Split Focus
by Spiderc
Summary: Robin is traveling through the Ylissean countryside when she is subjected to a horrific vision and grievously wounded while unable to defend herself. Meanwhile, a young man with no memories awakens atop a nearby hill surrounded by three strangers. The two soon find themselves bound together in a way that none could have foreseen. (On hiatus for rewrite)
1. Chrom's Special Talent

_"I am sorry for all of the pain that I caused, it was not supposed to go this way. I wish to explain why I took the actions that I did and give insight to the remaining trials ahead."_

_-A letter found in a ruined keep_

* * *

"Robin, we have to keep up the pace. I know it's hard, but our pursuers are likely right behind us." Athea softly admonished her daughter. "We're so close, in less than a day we'll be safe." Taking comfort in her mother's promise, Robin managed to jog for a bit so that she could catch up to her mother's side. The young woman had grown tired from their flight and had been lagging behind for the last half hour of their hike. Upon catching up with Athea, the woman smiled at Robin and put one arm around her daughter in an embrace while the two continued in a comfortable silence. After a few minutes, Robin finally mustered the courage to ask a question that had been plaguing her since they had left their home.

"I know we had to leave home," Robin hesitantly started, "but why are we heading for Ylissitol? The Ylisseans there certainly have no love for Plegians. Wouldn't it be better to hide in a remote village instead?" Athea grimaced slightly at the reminder of the war that had engulfed the two countries fifteen years ago and glanced at the cloak that her daughter insisted on wearing despite the danger. Its sleeves were adorned with a stylized version of the Mark of Grima and was a prominent display of very thing that had sparked the recent war between the worshipers of Naga and Grima.

Athea softly sighed before responding, "That may be true. However, what I've learned about the current Exalt makes me think she is nothing like her father. In fact, everything I've heard has said that she is kind to a fault. I believe that once we are able to explain our situation to her, we will be granted the asylum that we need."

Robin simply nodded. Outwardly she accepted her mother's explanation, but she had her doubts that everything would work out as her mother was hoping. There was no way her father was going to let them go without a fight and no matter how kind the Exalt of Ylisse was, she almost certainly wasn't going to invite such conflict into her capitol. It was much more likely in Robin's mind that they would be cast out of the city shortly after they arrived. That being said, she supposed that the worst case scenario was that the pair would be able to rest in the city for a day before they continued their flight.

Despite her misgivings, Robin had to admit that Ylisse was their best bet for safety and she ultimately couldn't fault her mother's choice. Fleeing west would have lead them further into the unforgiving Plegian deserts, where they would have been easily followed and would have no chance of outside aid. North would brought them to the rough landscapes that the Feroxi live in and it was almost certain that they would have been turned back at the border. The final option would have been to charter a boat and sail across the sea to Valm, but it was unlikely that they could have done so without attracting notice. She had heard that the continent was currently undergoing military strife, so it wouldn't have been a good choice from that perspective as well.

Compared to their other options, Ylisse was almost idyllic. Its landscape was predominately farmable grassland that was largely still untouched by the halidom's citizens. Most of the population resided in small villages that were scattered throughout the countryside, where they lived peaceful lives of farming or craftsmanship. Even its temperate climate was preferable to the sweltering heat of Plegia or the harsh winters of Ferox.

Robin and Athea had continued their trek through the Ylissean countryside for about another hour when Robin suddenly collapsed, holding her head and screaming. She was vaguely aware of her mother shouting her name while Athea attempted to rouse her, but Robin was unable to do anything except writhe on the ground in pain. Despite her eyes being clamped shut, visions started to fill her sight and she suddenly found herself standing in a large room. Even though she had never seen this place before, the vision felt more like a vivid memory rather than a dream and the constant pain she was in enforced the idea that she wasn't merely asleep.

Another strange facet of the vision was that Robin's body was moving unbidden on its own. She was running alongside a man with blue hair that she didn't recognize and they appeared to be in a large temple. If she had been able to control her own movements, she would have stopped in horror when she saw the man that they were approaching. He had jet black hair with a goatee and was standing in the middle of the room wearing the dark purple robes of the Grimleal.

Validar. Her father.

"Thoron!" Came the cry unbidden from her mouth as a large beam of lightning formed in front of the yellowed tome that she was holding and shot forward. Robin thought her voice sounded oddly distorted in the vision, but was more interested in the spell that her body had just cast. She considered herself barely competent with Thunder and yet here she was using Thoron with more proficiency than anything she had ever seen from her mother. When the spell had been cast, there had been none of the normal fatigue that accompanied a spell cast, meaning that the casting had fully utilized the power stored within the tome rather than relying on her own strength. She hadn't even mastered that feat with the basic level Thunder.

While Robin had been musing about the spell's potency, it had continued its path and hit Validar squarely in the chest. Despite the mysterious pain she was still in, Robin was able to feel some satisfaction when she saw the injury that her magical assault had inflicted on her father: his immaculate robes were now covered in singes and he was breathing heavily. The Grimleal priest wasn't given a chance to recover as the blue-haired man reached him and used his ornate looking sword to stab the Grimleal high priest in his side. Surprisingly, the strike bypassed the defensive enchantments that Robin knew her father had on his cloak and had cleanly cut through the robes. Validar yelled in agony from the wound and collapsed in a heap on the ground with his robes pooling around him.

The swordsman took several steps back and calmly spoke, "Stay down. Surrender and we won't have to end you." Though Robin desperately wanted to tell him to finish off her father, her body instead mutely ran to the man's side despite her protests. The last thing she wanted to do was get closer to her father, even in his injured state. For several seconds the pair cautiously watched Validar, but the priest wasn't making any discernible movements and Robin started to think that he might have passed out from his wounds.

Suddenly, Validar swept back his robes with one arm and Robin could see that he had retrieved his own tome from within his robes' inner pockets. "This isn't over... damn you both! Face Grima's Truth!" At the command, a dark power shot forth from his tome aimed at the blue-haired man. Robin's body reacted instantly and pushed him out of the way of the spell, causing her to take the full brunt of it herself. The mental pain that she had been experiencing was joined by the ravaging physical pain of the dark spell as it engulfed her body and surrounded around her as a shadowy aura. The spell felt as if hundreds of knives were repeatedly piercing her skin and cemented the belief held by the small part of her mind that could still rationally think that this wasn't an ordinary dream.

"Robin!" The man besides her cried out in surprise and concern. He briefly gave her a worried look before steeling himself and once again dashed towards Validar. Unlike Robin's casting of Thoron, Validar's usage of Grima's Truth had severely fatigued the already injured man and he made no move to protect himself as the swordsman approached. This time the swordsman didn't aim for a nonlethal hit and instead finished the dark priest with a blow to the heart. After he withdrew his bloodied sword from Validar's chest, he experimentally poked the priest's arm with his sword. When the corpse didn't react, the swordsman returned to Robin's side and knelt down next to her. Thankfully, the effects of Grima's Truth had ended when Validar had been stabbed through the heart so Robin was left with only the splitting headache.

"Are you all right? That's the end of him," he said and gave her a small smile. "Thanks to you we carried the day. We can rest easy now... at long last." Despite his words of comfort, Robin wasn't so sure that it was over. She thought that she could hear her father's laugher echoing throughout the room and for some unknown reason her sight was starting to turn red at the periphery. Despite her worries, nothing else happened and she started to believe that the vision was simply ending and she would wake up in the field with her worried mother at her side.

Her hopes were dashed when Robin noticed movement out of the corner of her eye and heard a grunt of pain from the blue-haired man. She realized with a start that her body was still moving on its own when it turned to face him and saw that the swordsman had fallen to his hands and knees. Robin didn't see anything wrong until he pushed himself off the ground so he was sitting up once again. Now that she had a clear view of his chest, Robin was horrified to see that there was a jagged sword deeply embedded in his side. The odd-looking sword was crackling with electricity that arced across the metal and when her body looked down she could see similar sparks flickering on her outstretched palm.

Despite the the mortal wound, a smile was still visible on the man's face though it was quickly turning into a grimace. "This is not your..." he started to say, then stopped to grunt again. "Your fault. Promise me you'll escape from this place... please... go…" With that, he collapsed and Robin could hear her father's spectral laughter in the room got louder. Despite the man's last words, Robin's body didn't move and she was forced to stare at his unconscious form while the red at edge of her sight started to take over her entire vision.

Robin dimly thought she could hear her mother's voice, as if she was shouting from a great distance. Athea seemed to be yelling Robin's name and something about moving, but Robin couldn't focus on the voice and lost herself to the pain when the red finished taking over her entire sight. She felt only torment and couldn't even think straight enough to try to process the vision that she had unwillingly witnessed. Just when she couldn't take anymore, most of the pain subsided and she found herself once again standing next to the blue-haired man facing down her father. She could do nothing except watch in anguish while the scenario played out in front of her again.

And again.

And again.

There were occasional irregularities in the vision, such as hearing a familiar woman's voice yell out Thoron not long after she did and a sharp pain in her stomach that persisted from one vision to the next. When it first started, the new pain was accompanied by the same voice screaming her name. Or at least what she thought her name was. If the blue-haired man didn't shout Robin at her every loop, she numbly suspected that should would have forgotten it amongst the pain by now.

After what seemed like an eternity, new voices started to flit across her consciousness that sounded angry. For some reason, almost all of the pain she'd been experiencing from the visions had receded and she was able to hear most of their conversation despite still being in the vision loop.

"...upposed to 'apture 'er, not kill!"

"I know that! Couldn't see her… that witch! Not my fault sh…"

"...plain to Validar 'ow it's not yer fault when yer axe is in 'er gut!"

At this point Robin mercifully fell into unconsciousness and the vision loop ended. In direct contrast to what she had just experienced, her unconscious dreams were unexpectedly peaceful, though she couldn't focus on their contents. The one thing that she could tell was that there was a woman's calming voice, but even that slipped away from her and she knew no more.

* * *

Not far away, the relatively flat countryside was broken up by a small hill that served as a convenient vantage point. From it, one could see all of the surrounding plains that were empty apart from a nearby small town. A young man with short dark brown hair lay on his back atop the hill with what looked like a large black and purple blanket being used for a pillow. Three travelers and their horse were surrounding him and were trying to determine if there something was wrong.

"Chrom, we have to do something!" A girl's shrill voice exclaimed, layered with worry.

"What do you propose we do?" Came the response, this speaker another young man.

"I... I dunno..."

The young man on the ground groaned and started to sit up, opening his eyes to take in his surroundings. Taken aback by the situation that he found himself in, his eyes darted between the three people that were standing around him.

The person that was closest by was crouching over him and smiled upon seeing that the object of his concern was starting to rouse himself. "Ah, I see you're awake now. There are better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know." He was wearing dark blue colored light armor that covered most of his body, although his right arm was exposed. A sword was sheathed at his side that had a very ornate looking crossguard, but the thing that really surprised the man on the ground was that the other man had short blue hair.

_Chrom._

The second person standing above him was a girl with yellow blonde hair in pigtails who had a concerned look on her face. Like the first, her demeanor improved when she saw that he was stirring and a shy smile appeared on her face. "Hey there!" She was wearing a yellow dress with large skirt and was holding a staff instead of a weapon.

_Lissa._

The last of the group was standing several feet away and was to be keeping one eye on the young man on the ground and one on the surrounding area. Unlike the other two, he didn't say anything in response to the young man's stirring, and instead narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He had short brown hair and was wearing a full suit of blue armor and was holding a lance at his side.

_Frederick._

The first man extended his arm out to the one on the ground, who grasped it with his own. "Thanks Chrom," he said as was helped to his feet.

"Ah, then you know who I am?" Chrom responded with a raised eyebrow and released the other man's hand now that he had finished standing.

"Uh, I don't think so? Didn't she say your name while you were waiting for me to wake up?" While he said this, the young man nodded in the direction of the girl in yellow while he stretched his arms.

Chrom chuckled softly and rubbed the back of his head at his oversight. "I suppose she did. This is my little sister Lissa and our ally Frederick." At Lissa's introduction, her smile grew and she waved. On the other hand, Frederick only gave a slight nod in greeting and returned to keeping watch on their surroundings. Chrom continued, "What's your name friend?"

"And…," the brown haired man started, then hesitated. "Er… you know, I can't actually remember! And to be honest, I'm not sure how I got here either..." As if to emphasise his point, he started looking at his surroundings with confusion plain on his face.

"Hey, I've heard of this!" Lissa chimed in, "It's called amnesia!"

Frederick snorted in response to the claim and turned to fully face the other three. "It's called a load of pegasus dung," he said with obvious disbelief. "What is that on the ground next to where you were lying?"

"I'm telling the truth!" The brown haired man insisted and turned to look down at what had been his makeshift pillow. "And I'm not sure... amnesia remember?" He bent down to grab the fabric while his comment earned another scowl from Frederick. Upon being picked up, the item unfurled and revealed itself to be a large cloak with the back facing him. "It's a... robe, I guess." He looked back up from clothing at Frederick, hoping that the harmlessness of the item would assuage the man's concerns. To his surprise, it had the exact opposite effect and Frederick tightened his grip on his weapon, shifting into a guarded stance

"Milord! Milady! Get back!"

Instead of doing as instructed, Chrom sighed. "Yes, I see it Frederick. He doesn't look or sound Plegian and there could be any number of reasons he could have that cloak. We have no reason to think that he's a threat. Besides, what would you have me do, just leave him here alone and confused? What sort of Shepherds would we be then?"

In response to Chrom's statement, Frederick grudgingly returned to his previous position. He continued watching the man in question and marginally relaxed when the supposed amnesiac made no move other than to slowly turn the cloak around so that he could see the other side of it "Just the same, milord. I must emphasize caution. 'Twould not do to let a wolf into our flock."

Lissa had been unfazed by the entire conversation and exasperatedly interjected, "Regardless of his fashion choices, we need a name for him!" She paused for a moment to think before she asked, "What about Anders? It sounds like that's what you were starting to say before!"

The newly christened Anders didn't think that the name sounded quite right, although it was better than nothing so he simply shrugged. "I don't think that's my real name, but it's good enough. You'll be the first to know if I remember what my name actually is." Having turned around the cloak, he inquisitively looked at the piece of clothing. The cloak's fabric was black with gold trim along edges and had several deep purple swaths of fabric that wound around the front and back. Overall, the only thing that struck Anders as notable was a design that looked like three purple eyes that were embroidered on both of the cloak's sleeves. "What do these symbols mean? That's what you were surprised by, right?"

"It is," Chrom confirmed. "If you truly don't recognize it, then that's a conversation that we should have back in Southtown." He gestured behind him towards where Anders assumed the town was.

Lissa looked in the direction he was pointing and gasped, "Chrom, look! The town!"

Chrom whipped around to look in the direction that he had just gestured in and saw several plumes of dark gray smoke rising in the distance. "Damn it! The town is ablaze! Those blasted brigands, no doubt... Frederick, Lissa! Quickly!" With that he took off running down the hill towards the town. Without any hesitation, Lissa followed her brother and started chasing after him, though at a slightly slower pace.

Rather than immediately following as well, Frederick paused, "What about him?"

"Unless he's on fire as well, it can wait!" Chrom yelled back without breaking his stride.

Frederick deflated slightly and muttered, "Aptly put, milord." He gave Anders a final disapproving look before he turned and purposefully strode away from the amnesiac. He quickly mounted the horse that had been grazing during their conversation and swiftly rode down the hill behind the pair.

"Wait, but I can't…" Anders started to say, then stopped when it was clear that the other three were already out of earshot. He looked down at the cloak that he was still holding, trying to figure out why he would have such an item, especially since it warranted concern from the only people he knew. It had to be important though since it was apparently his only possession apart from the plain clothes he was wearing. As such, he was in no rush to part with it despite the trouble that it might bring. Shrugging, Anders put on the cloak and after a moment's hesitation followed the trio down the hill towards the town.

* * *

Chrom grit his teeth in frustration as he reached the outskirts of Southtown and was assaulted by the sounds and smells of a village being attacked. Despite having not entered the small town's boundaries yet, he could hear the screams of the townsfolk under assault and could see that the air ahead was filled with smoke. Chrom was prepared to fight bandits whenever he went on patrol with the Shepherds, though he had hoped that they would be able to intercept this group before they had reached any towns. He glanced behind and was glad to see that Frederick and Lissa caught up to him and were waiting for his instructions. He idly wondered where Anders was, but there were much more pressing concerns at hand.

"I'm going to go that way to get behind the bandits," Chrom said, pointing to an alleyway to the north. "You two go east towards those screams and try to help any of the villagers that are being attacked. I'll start heading your way and we'll pincer the dastards."

Frederick frowned upon hearing Chrom's plan. "I don't think milord should be going-"

"We don't have time to discuss, just go! I can take on a few bandits by myself."

The knight hesitantly nodded and started riding in the direction that Chrom had indicated, glancing behind occasionally to make sure that Lissa was right behind him. The cleric told Chrom to stay safe and gained a determined look in her eyes as she started to follow Frederick. Though he had full faith that Frederick would be able to keep her safe, Chrom called out to the pair as they moved further into smokey streets, "Just… be careful Liss." At her brother's voice, Lissa turned around and gave him a hesitant smile and nod before scampering off to keep up with Frederick.

Sighing softly, Chrom unsheathed Falchion and started walking north as he watched intently for any sign of the bandits. Every instinct told him to charge forward and enter the fray as soon as possible to try to prevent further harm to the town, but he forced himself to maintain a steady pace. Rushing into enemies while by himself would only result in getting injured or worse and then he wouldn't be able to help any of the inhabitants. The alleyway he was walking down soon opened up into a larger market street and he spotted one of the town's invaders looting a merchant's stall.

The bandit's gear was of slightly better make than what Chrom had normally seen from other bandits that he had fought in the past. Although it appeared poorly maintained, he was wearing leather armor and had iron axe strapped to his back. While Chrom watched, the rough-looking man was fully engaged in his task of shoveling valuables into a sack and didn't appear to be paying any attention to his surroundings.

"I somehow doubt you paid for those," Chrom called out to the man. He likely could have snuck up behind the bandit and scored a free hit with Falchion, but striking a man in the back wasn't something that he wanted to stoop to. Even if the man in question was a criminal. At Chrom's challenge, the bandit immediately turned around and retrieved his axe with more speed than Chrom would have expected. Perhaps it was just as well that he hadn't opted for a surprise attack, the advantage could have easily been turned around on him if the bandit had heard his approach.

"Oi, we got a 'ero here, do we?" The bandit chuckled darkly, "I'll show you 'ow we deal with 'eros." The bandit darted forward with his axe raised and started a powerful downswing as he neared the Ylissean. Chrom jumped backwards out of the way of the strike and retaliated by swinging Falchion, hitting the man on his left forearm. The bandit's wrist guards absorbed the brunt of the attack so the axeman remained largely unharmed and merely cursed at Chrom. Despite this, Chrom was pleased with the result of their first exchange. Considering his foe's clearly aggressive style, Chrom took another step back and settled into a defensive stance. If he could continue to bait and counterattack, he could make quick work of the town's attacker.

His strategy was soon disrupted when he noticed that there was another bandit starting to approach him from the left. The second bandit had gear of similar quality to the first and was taking his time moving towards Chrom, apparently confident in their odds. The opponent Chrom had already engaged grinned at the sight of his ally and swung his axe again while calling out to other bandit. This time, Chrom wasn't able to fully sidestep the attack due to the distraction and had to block the attack with Falchion instead of simply dodging out of the way. While maintaining the overhead block, he pivoted so he could see both of his potential attackers at once and his back was once again to the alleyway that he had emerged from. Seeing that the swordsman was now entangled, the second bandit started to charge at Chrom from across the market street with his axe raised.

Chrom was starting to regret going off on his own. He was still confident that he could beat these two, but there were decent odds that he would be injured while doing so. Without Lissa or any of his other allies, the odds of victory would go down significantly if he got into another fight after this one. However, he needed to deal with the immediate threat first so he returned his full attention to the fight at hand. While maintaining his block with Falchion, Chrom kicked at the first bandit, making the axe wielder loosen his grip on his weapon in his surprise. Chrom immediately pressed his advantage by disarming the bandit with a flourish of Falchion that caused the axe to fly out of the man's grip and land several feet away. Satisfied that this bandit had been mostly neutralized, Chrom was starting to turn towards the quickly approaching threat when a woman's voice suddenly called out from behind him.

"Thunder!"

Time seemed to slow down as Chrom's mind raced. A third bandit? How had he missed the woman? He didn't know, but had no doubts that even if he survived this encounter, the verbal thrashing he would receive from Frederick would make him wish he hadn't. He had braced himself for the inevitable magical onslaught when the bolt of electricity he had been expecting to be hit by flew past and struck the second bandit instead. From the quick glances he gave them, the two invaders were as surprised by the spell as Chrom had been. Whether it was due to an injury the spell had inflicted or simply its unexpected nature, the Thunder spell had caused the bandit to stop his charge and Chrom allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. The newcomer wasn't one of their allies afterall.

Between the three melee combatants, Chrom the first to recover from the surprise and turned his full attention back to the disarmed bandit in front of him. He once again swung Falchion and this time the sword struck true, hitting the man cleanly across the chest and slicing through his disheveled leather armor. With a grunt, the bandit dropped to his knees and his eyes began to lose their focus while blood trickled down his front. Knowing this opponent was no longer a threat, Chrom pivoted to his left once again to face his second attacker head on. While he wanted to see his apparent savior, the swordsman knew he needed to dispatch the remaining enemy first.

The second bandit had resumed his charge towards Chrom, though he was still stunned by the electrical assault he had received so his charge was much slower than before. Seeing the man's slowed movements, Chrom reverted to his original plan for fighting a single opponent and waited for the man to approach. The mage behind him had other ideas, which was signaled by another command of Thunder. Once again a bolt of electricity flew past Chrom and struck the bandit, this time hitting the man in the head. The bandit's legs immediately gave out and he started convulsing on the ground. Satisfied that both bandits had been incapacitated, Chrom finally turned around to see who had saved him from the uneven fight.

Standing about fifteen feet behind him was a young woman with medium length white hair holding a Thunder tome. She was wearing the same kind of cloak that Anders had been found with, which made Chrom wonder how many friendly Grimleal he was going to meet today. Before he could put much thought into the strange occurrence, the mage suddenly doubled over and started wheezing as her tome fell from her hands, hitting the ground with a loud thump. Chrom hurried to her side after taking a quick look around to make sure that there weren't any additional bandits nearby.

"Thanks for the assistance, I was definitely in a bind there. Are you alright?"

"I'll… I'll be fine… had to run… to catch up… with you…" She slowly gasped out, "Don't… know why… two spells took… so much... out of me… Where are… Lissa and Frederick?"

Chrom was surprised that a woman that he had never met before had chased after him to his aid and that she knew the names of his fellow Shepherds. From her gear, he decided it wasn't much of a stretch to assume that she knew Anders and he had sent her ahead to help the Shepherds. Chrom still wasn't sure where she came from and where Anders could be, but decided that both of those questions could be answered later.

"They went in a different direction to try to help the townsfolk that were being attacked. I haven't heard any shouts in a while which is either good or very bad, so I need to go meet up with them. Are you well enough to walk?"

"You went off… by yourself? Sounds like you… really need a tactician… if that's the best… plan you had." The young woman was still speaking slowly and her breathing was starting to normalize. "And yes, I can walk… Just give me a second…"

True to her word, a moment later she reached down and retrieved her tome before hesitantly giving Chrom a nod that she was ready to move. He returned her nod with a confident one of his own before turning back east and slowly started towards where he hoped he would find Frederick and Lissa. He didn't see any more bandits in the immediate area which made him want to pick up the pace so that they could reach the other pair sooner. However, he didn't think that his new companion would be able to move any faster so he maintained their current speed.

Speaking of the mage, Chrom glanced behind him and was glad to see that she was keeping up with him. "By the way, I didn't catch your name," he called out.

"But we just… I mean, I guess a lot has happened…" Though she no longer seemed out of breath, her reply was softer than when they had been talking earlier and she was staring at the ground while she walked. After pausing for another second, she glanced up from the ground and looked Chrom in the eyes. "My name is Robin."

"Then you have my thanks Robin," Chrom replied, intentionally ignoring the first half of her statement for now. There were definitely things that he would need clarification from her about, but for now all he needed was an ally watching his back. "You mentioned that I needed a tactician, which is a sentiment I can't bring myself to disagree with. Would you happen to be one?"

Robin frowned slightly at the question. "I think so? I'm pretty sure I was at least training as one. But you know, amnesia?"

Her reply made Chrom stop in his tracks and stare at her incredulously. The fact that he had met two Grimleal on this side of the border in one day was highly unusual and frankly worrisome. The next thing that had struck him as odd was that neither of them had mentioned their God nor said anything concerning. Chrom thought himself to be a trusting person by nature, but to be honest he had expected to hear or see something that was morally questionable from cultists who worship a fell dragon. The fact that both of them claimed to have amnesia though? That was just outlandish.

Robin had taken a few steps beyond Chrom and stopped to return his questioning look, though she seemed to be wondering why they had suddenly stopped. "Robin…" Chrom slowly started to say, "What's going on here? I mean with you and An-" Suddenly a scream pierced the air and interrupted his query. While he had heard several screams shortly after entering the boundaries of the town, this one caused a chill to run down his spine. It was Lissa.

Yelling his sister's name in alarm, Chrom took off in a full sprint without checking to see if Robin was following him. He quickly came to the bridge that spanned the small river running through the town. On the far end of the bridge he could see Lissa standing over several injured townsfolk that she had presumably intended on healing with her staff. The reason for her scream was three bandits that were directly between the siblings that were making their way towards the terrified cleric. Two of the bandits were armed similarly to the others that he had fought, but the third carried an iron sword instead of an axe.

On Lissa's side of the bridge, Chrom could see Frederick desperately fighting off another bandit while his horse stood nearby. The knight had likely dismounted earlier to make it easier to fight in the town's narrower alleys and was trying to disengage from his opponent and rush to his charge's side. The bandit he was fighting must have been unusually competent and had so far been able to stall Frederick's assault. With the distances at play Chrom knew that there was no way that either man would be able to reach Lissa before the bandits did, even if Frederick had been able to turn and attack immediately.

"Get away from her you dastards!" Chrom yelled out in a desperate attempt to distract the bandits while he charged them. The bandit with the sword turned to face the Chrom while the other two continued down the bridge towards Lissa, the lure of an undefended healer too enticing for them to ignore. Chrom ruefully noted that his challenge had only made it harder for him to reach his sister. Now he needed to fight past one opponent to reach the other two that were threatening Lissa rather than being able to charge all three at once.

"Run Lissa!" Chrom shouted out as he crossed swords with the bandit that had turned to face him. However, the girl didn't move from the spot and continued to stare at the approaching bandits with her staff held in front of her as if it were a shield. Cursing his bad strategy that had gotten them into this mess, Chrom tried his best to dispatch his latest opponent with a quick thrust, but the bandit was able to turn the blade with a parry. Like the one that Frederick was fighting, this bandit seemed more experienced than the others had been and was slowly pressing him backwards with his relentless assault. Though this bandit was more skilled than the previous ones had been, the main reason he was successful in his assault was because Chrom was distracted by the danger Lissa was in.

"Thunder!" Came the cry from Robin, and Chrom watched in utter relief as the magical attack struck one of the bandits who was now only several feet away from Lissa. The thin bolt of lightning struck the bandit in the back, making him to jump and yell out in pain. "Th-thunder..." The second casting of Thunder was much weaker, both in strength of the evocation and the spell itself. The second bolt of electricity that came forward was much closer to a small jolt than a full on electrical assault, but the shock was enough to give pause to the second bandit who had been bent on attacking Lissa.

Thankfully, that was all that was needed. On the other side of the river, Frederick's horse had reared up on its hind legs and startled the bandit that Frederick had been fighting. The knight immediately took advantage of the distraction and struck the bandit's leg with his lance, causing the man to howl in pain and fall to one knee. As soon as his opponent was unable to contest his escape, Frederick swung back onto his horse galloped over to the bridge in a matter of seconds. Taking advantage of his speed and the halted bandit, Frederick ran the less injured of the two through the heart with his silver lance, killing the man in a single blow. He immediately turned his attention to the other threat after swiftly dislodging his weapon from the now collapsed man.

Breathing a sigh of relief that his sister was safe, Chrom turned his full attention back to his opponent and was finally able to retaliate in earnest. Over the sound of clashing swords, Chrom could make out an odd 'whump' sound from behind him, which he took to mean that Robin had dropped her tome again. Knowing that it was unlikely he would receive any assistance against this enemy, Chrom redoubled his efforts and slowly started to force the bandit back across the bridge. Unfortunately for the bandit, his foot caught on a raised cobblestone and he stumbled slightly, dropping his guard for a second. Chrom took immediate advantage of the misstep and pierced the bandit's armor with a final, fatal blow from Falchion.

As the man dropped, Chrom was glad to see that Frederick had dispatched his last opponent as well and was helping Lissa to her feet. "I can't thank you enough for the assistance Robin," Chrom started to say while he turned to face the tactician. He was shocked to discover that she was lying face down on the street, apparently unconscious. Chrom rushed to her side and gingerly rolled her over on her back to check for injuries. He couldn't see any visible wounds on the woman other than some scratches on her forearms, so she must have been able to break her own fall. Still concerned, Chrom called for Lissa who was already walking over to his side of the bridge followed closely by Frederick. With just a glance he could tell that she was shaken by her first exposure to battle from her unusually blank expression.

"You okay Liss? I'm sorry... I never should have left you." Chrom apologized when she approached. Although he was worried about Robin, he needed to make sure that his sister was alright first.

"I'm fine... I just got so scared when they started coming towards me and I couldn't move..." Rather than continuing, she knelt down next to Chrom besides the unconscious tactician with her staff at the ready. "Who's this?"

Before he answered, Chrom pulled Lissa into a hug that she fiercely returned. After several seconds the siblings split and Chrom explained, "I know her name is Robin, though not much else. I was about to ask her for more information but then we heard you shout and ran over. She cast Thunder twice just now and then must have collapsed." Chrom answered, his voice steeped with worry.

He glanced up at Frederick who had the guarded expression that had earned him his title: The Wary. Chrom sighed, knowing exactly what the knight was thinking and stood up to address his concerns. "Yes Frederick, I noticed her cloak. She's helped twice now when she could have hit me in the back just as easily. I truly believe she's not a threat. I haven't seen him in town yet, but I believe Anders is trustworthy as well. He must have sent her after us to help since she already knew we were here."

"Or she could be a well-informed spy milord. As I said previously, I must emphasize caution. Especially with this second strange appearance."

Lissa appeared glad for the distraction and had once again ignored Frederick's warnings while examining Robin with her staff with a confused pout during their discussion. "I don't get it Chrom!" The cleric interjected, "She's in perfect health, but has absolutely no energy. It's like she's finished one of Frederick's Fanatical Fitness Hours while using magic the entire time. Do you know why she would be so tired?"

"I'm not sure, I met her five minutes before joining back up with you. Can't you do anything for her?" Chrom implored. He didn't know that much about healing staves, but he was fairly certain that they could only treat wounds and was unsurprised when the cleric shook her head. "If there's nothing you can do for her, then you should return to treating any injured villagers. I think that was the last of the bandits, so it should be safe."

Lissa gave her brother a mock salute before standing and scampering off to find anyone that needed treating. Chrom was still standing by Robin trying to think of something he could do to help when he heard a soft groan as she started to come to. A few seconds later her eyes slowly opened and she shakily started to sit up.

"Robin! Are you alright? Gods, I was worried." Chrom said, extending a hand to help her up. Without answering she took his hand and let him slowly pull to her feet. While helping her stand Chrom noticed that there was a faded scar in the shape of the Mark of Grima on her right hand. Despite the apprehension that the symbol gave him, Chrom decided not to comment on it in an effort to not further alarm Frederick. Unfortunately, that was inevitable because as she stood, a bronze sword from within her cloak flashed in the sunlight and the knight's eyes narrowed once again in suspicion.

"Get back milord! She's still armed." Frederick barked and he gripped his lance once again.

Chrom's patience with his fellow Shepherd finally broke and he frustratedly turned towards the knight. "Frederick, she's clearly no threat! She can barely stand and Lissa herself said that Robin didn't have any energy. Even if she did mean us harm she's in no state to do so." To accentuate his point, Chrom sharply gestured towards the tactician who was currently leaning against a nearby building and was once again gasping for air.

"It's… fine… I'll… take off… my cloak… it weighs… a ton… anyway." Robin slowly gasped out while starting to remove off her cloak in a painstakingly slow manner. Eventually she was able to get her arms out of their holes and shrugged the cloak off, dropping it and all of the equipment that was stored within. As soon as the cloak hit the ground, there was a bright flash of blue light that caused both Chrom and Frederick to shout out and cover their eyes in surprise and alarm.

When they looked back up, the pair was astounded to see that Robin had somehow disappeared and Anders was standing in her place with a puzzled look on his face as he glanced around. "Uh… where am I?" Before either Shepherd could gather their wits, Anders eyes glazed over and he stood completely still. After a couple seconds the look in his eyes cleared and he adopted a shocked expression identical to the other two men. "Wait. What the fuck?"


	2. Vision of the Future

_"Though I admit that I was distressed by the unexpected foresight that I gained, I did not fall to despair. After seeing other worlds fall into ruin, I vowed to prevent the same from happening to ours."_

* * *

"...Anders?" Chrom hesitantly asked, his face plain with disbelief at what he had just witnessed. Frederick was likewise stunned, but he was coming to his senses more quickly than the swordsman.

"It's clearly a hex of some kind milord. Some new Grimleal ploy." As he spoke, Frederick stepped forward so that he was partially between Chrom and Anders. Despite the shock, the knight had kept his hand on his lance and he slowly leveled the weapon at the dazed young man in front of him.

Anders didn't even hear what Frederick said or notice the movement of the knight's weapon. All of his focus was dedicated to desperately trying to figure out what had just occurred. A second ago he had been atop that hill watching the others run towards the ablaze town while he tried to decide what he should do. Now he found himself standing in what he assumed was the same town, but with no idea of how he'd gotten there. At the same time, he somehow had distinct memories of jogging down the hill and entering the town shortly after Chrom and the others had. He clutched his head and loudly groaned, "What are these _memories_?!"

While Frederick continued to point his weapon at Anders, Chrom was finally able to gather his wits at the man's exclamation. "Memories? Do you mean that your amnesia is gone?" The question was followed by a scoff from Frederick.

Still holding his head in head in his hands, Anders tried to remember anything from before waking up on the hill, but still came up blank on anything about his life prior to that point. He sighed and resignedly decided there was nothing new on that front, so instead continued working his way through the memories he had unexpectedly gained. In the new memories he had followed Chrom at a distance until someone with an axe had charged at the swordsman. In response to the bandit's assault, lightning had come out of Anders' hands after he'd yelled 'Thunder.' Something about that particular event seemed struck him as even more odd than the previous memories had and after a second he realized that it had been a _woman's_ voice that had yelled the word.

Shocked, Anders looked up and finally noticed Frederick's stance. The unsaid threat from the knight made him falter and Anders' face turned white from fear as he tried to answer Chrom's question. "N-no, I still don't r-remember anything from before we met." Anders stuttered while staring at the lance pointed at his chest. "I can remember things after that, but it wasn't me somehow. There was a man running at you with an axe, but I attacked him and he… fell." As he spoke, he realized with horror that the man had been hit by two of the mysterious lightning bolts and then he had collapsed. Any remaining color Anders' face had disappeared when he recollected that after the bandit had been struck by the second bolt he hadn't moved again.

At the realization, Anders legs gave out and he slumped against the building that he was standing in front of. There was a small part of him that knew that he should be glad that Frederick hadn't run him through at the unexpected movement, but was too distraught to consider how truly close to death he might have been. Had he killed someone? Why did he not remember feeling anything during the act? If he was that desensitized, why was he filled with so much remorse and fear now?

"Who did you attack?" Frederick questioned in a dangerously low tone while moving the tip of his lance even closer to Anders so that it was mere inches away from the amnesiac's heart. "If you injured any of the townsfolk I will end you right here!" Anders wanted to reply but his mouth simply hung open and he couldn't make any coherent noises. Between being threatened and trying to parse these impossible memories, he couldn't think of anything to say.

Mercifully, Chrom answered for him and held his arm out in front of the knight. "Peace Frederick, I believe he's talking about the bandits." After Frederick grudgingly withdrawn his lance several inches Chrom continued, "If you were following me as well, I have to admit I didn't notice, though I do appreciate the aid. The only other person I saw was Robin after she helped me fight off several bandits. Do you know what happened to her just now?"

Anders racked his brain trying to figure out what the swordsman's statement could mean. The one thing that he did know for sure was that if he knew someone named Robin, it would have been from before his amnesia. Anders eyes suddenly widened as an impossible explanation came to him. Was Robin the source of the memories he'd somehow obtained?

With that thought, Anders was able to find his voice again and rambled through his thought process in the hopes that it would somehow make the two understand. "I think that's what I'm talking about, but _I_ can remember it! I attacked that bandit with a… spell? Magic? But he kept running at you and I did it again and he stopped moving! But it wasn't me, it was her! I know everything she did in town, but nothing that I did! I don't even know how I got here just now!" The longer he spoke the more frantic his voice grew. Instead of being cathartic, putting words to what he was experiencing pushed him to the point where he felt like he was on the verge of a full panic attack. It was bad enough that he was missing his own memories, but now he was gaining someone else's. Someone who apparently could shoot lightning from their hands and felt nothing while attacking another person.

There were several seconds of pointed silence, then Chrom slowly told Frederick to stand down. The knight reluctantly withdrew his lance and placed the haft on the ground while the two shared a look of disbelief. Meanwhile, Anders had finished sliding down the wall and was now crouched on the ground next to the cloak that had been dropped just a minute prior. Chrom looked like he was desperately trying to think of something that would help the situation and eventually asked with hesitation, "What's the last thing you remember as yourself then?"

Anders sat up slightly at the question and closed his eyes to focus. "Umm… I watched you all run down the hill and I was about to follow you. But then I noticed the robe and figured it was important so I put it on." Anders' eyes snapped open and looked at the nearby cloak with an expression of suspicion that rivaled Frederick's best. He slowly began shuffling away from the cloak as if it were a dangerous animal that he didn't want to startle. The amnesiac was dimly aware that he was probably underreacting to the situation, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to move any additional haste.

Chrom didn't appear to notice the movement as he mused, "That's a start at least. We should have Lissa here for this. After all, she's far more likely to notice an enchantment than Frederick or myself." He then turned and called over to his sister who had been cheerfully chatting with some of the uninjured townsfolk after her duties as a healer had been completed.

Upon hearing her name, the young cleric said goodbye to the people that she'd been talking with and jogged back over to rejoin the other three. As she approached, she excitedly started to speak, "I was just talking to the mayor and he invited us to stay overnight as thanks! They're going to throw us a feast! Hey Anders, when did you get here?" Lissa's rambling suddenly ended as she halted with a disapproving look on her face. "Where's Robin?! She shouldn't be moving in her condition!"

Despite the situation, Chrom was barely able to suppress a smile at his sister's antics. "Robin didn't go anywhere Lissa. It seems that Anders is Robin."

"What?" The others said at the same time, Lissa with much more surprise than the other two.

"You think this is some sort of shapeshifting hex milord?"

"What do you mean they're the same person?! I know you're oblivious sometimes Chrom, but there's some pretty clear differences between them!"

Chrom merely shrugged at his fellow Shepherds' outburst. "There's one way to find out," he said while gesturing to the purple and black clothing on the ground.

Anders had stayed silent after his initial outburst at Chrom's statement and had continued to slowly put more distance between himself and the Grimleal cloak. He was starting to understand Chrom's train of thought and found that he wanted nothing to do with it.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lissa asked incredulously.

"Anders said the last thing he remembered as himself was putting on the cloak and then he appeared in front of us when Robin took it off." Lissa clearly still had questions, but Chrom put a hand up to forestall them and addressed Anders while his sister fumed behind him. "I can tell you're afraid, but this might be the key to solving the mystery of your amnesia."

Despite his apprehension, Anders had to agree with almost everything Chrom had said. His one reservation was that he was sure that there was no way that he and Robin were the same person. Even with amnesia he was confident that he'd remember something like that. Steeling his nerves, Anders slowly pulled himself back to his feet while grabbing the cloak in the process. For the second time in an hour, he slowly turned it around and put his arms through the holes. There was immediately a flash of white light that fully enveloped him and temporarily blinded the three onlookers.

Robin opened her eyes and was surprised to see that Lissa was now there and all three Shepherds were staring intently at her. Chrom had an oddly smug look on his face, Lissa's eyes were wide with astonishment, and Robin was unable to read any emotions from Frederick's stony gaze. She hesitated for a second and was astounded when her mind suddenly filled with memories of what had happened to Anders after she had taken off the cloak.

"Robin…?" Chrom asked hesitantly despite the grin on his face, "Or is it Anders?"

"Robin. Definitely Robin." The tactician answered absentmindedly while trying to figure out what was going on. Despite the uncertainty, she was still confident that they were two different people. The fact that she was unaware of Anders' thoughts on the matter only made her more certain. If they were the same person who was simply being shapeshifted as Frederick had suggested, Robin was sure that they would be sharing the same thoughts. With a start, she realized that she had mentally addressed something that Frederick had said to Anders and continued, "That's odd... I can recall everything that you were just discussing."

"But you were… but he is… but… what's going on?!" While Robin was at least trying to take an analytical approach to the situation, Lissa was getting almost as worked up about it as Anders had been moments before.

"I don't… know Lissa. I'm not sure what's going on with Anders and me." Robin sighed and hung her head. None of this made any sense. Why was she swapping in and out of existence and sharing memories with someone she didn't know? She was pulled out of her musings when she noticed that her tome was still lying on the ground from when she'd gone unconscious while casting Thunder earlier. She found that she could also recall Frederick's treatment of Anders and cautiously pointed at it. "Do you mind if I retrieve my tome?" It looked like Frederick was able to say something, but was interrupted by Chrom softly chuckling at her hesitation and gave her the go ahead. Before the knight could argue, Robin grabbed the large book and stuffed it into one of her cloak's inner pockets. She looked around at the other three at a loss, "So now what?"

Before either of the two men could respond, Lissa cheered out a reply. "Now we celebrate!" Apparently the oddness of the situation wasn't enough to deter the girl from the prospect of a good meal.

Unfortunately for the cleric, Frederick had other ideas and turned to Chrom. "I'm afraid we must hurry back to Ylisstol. Milord, did you notice that the brigands spoke with a Plegian accent? There is also the matter of our new acquaintance. We must return and report this at once."

"Plegian? What's that?" Robin interjected before Lissa could argue about her meal being snatched away. Now that she had remembered how the knight had treated Anders, the tactician couldn't help giving Frederick a quick glare while asking the question.

Chrom nodded at his lieutenant before he responded to Robin's question and missed her expression as a result. "Plegia is Ylisse's westerly neighbor. They send small bands into our territory, hoping to instigate a war. I'm sorry Liss, but I agree with Frederick. We must return at once."

"But, it's nearly dark!" The cleric accentuated her point by gesturing to the clock tower of the nearby church. True to her word, the hour on the clock confirmed that it would be evening in a few short hours. Robin had noticed the large building during the fight and assumed that the three Plegian bandits had been about to loot it before they had noticed the unattended cleric. A large grin appeared on Lissa's face as she continued, confident in her argument. "And Robin is in no shape to travel!"

The last statement threw off the tactician; as far as she knew it hadn't been established that she would be traveling with the Shepherds when they left the town. She had to admit that it was more likely that she would be able to receive insight into the situation in a larger town and the trio seemed pleasant enough. Well... Chrom and Lissa did at least. If nothing else, she had to admit that she was intrigued by Chrom's comment needing a tactician.

Interrupting her thoughts, Frederick spoke and she noticed that he was smiling, which was the first time that Robin could remember seeing him do so. "I completely agree milady." While Robin would have expected a joyous response from Lissa, instead the girl narrowed her eyes in suspicion. The knight continued undaunted by her glare, "However, I believe that Anders is uninjured and would have no issues traveling."

Chrom had been watching the pair with a bemused look on his face and barked a laugh. "He's got you there Liss."

"Frederick? Sometimes I hate you," the cleric grumbled.

Despite everything, Robin couldn't help but smile at the pair's antics. It was appreciated to have a distraction from the craziness she had found herself in. "You've quite the stern lieutenant there."

"Yeah, well, 'stern' is one name for it. I can think of a few others!"

Chrom chuckled and explained to the tactician. "Frederick only smiles when he's about to bring down the axe."

"Duly noted and I believe Frederick is right. I don't think I'm up for a trek, but I would think that Anders should be." With that she started to pull her arms back through the sleeves of her cloak, but paused before dropping it to the ground. "Well. I'll see you all later I guess?" After a comforting smile from Chrom, Robin sighed and let the cloak go which caused another flash of blue light.

Anders looked around at his surroundings frantically, but calmed down significantly when he realized that he was standing in the exact same place he had been when he had put on the cloak. The complete loss of the sense of time from the first swap had terrified him, so the relative stability of this one was a great relief. Anders also noted that everyone else was significantly more calm than when he had been swapped out, so he was starting to feel better in that regard as well. He wasn't sure if he could handle the stress of being threatened with a lance again.

While Anders took a moment to take in the conversation that had just occurred, Frederick stepped away to inform the mayor that the group would not be staying for a feast after all. Chrom and Lissa had correctly sensed that the amnesiac needed time alone so they stayed mostly quiet while he tried to work his way through what had happened. He still didn't know anything about his amnesia, but it seemed that he and Robin could swap in and out freely without any immediately apparent ill effects. Now that he had calmed down and done some reflection, his initial fears had been assuaged by the simple fact that it seemed like Robin was a nice enough person from her interactions with the others.

Chrom finally spoke when Frederick returned and kindly asked, "Are you ready to go then Anders? We should try to cover as much ground as possible before night falls."

"Ready." As he answered, Anders glanced at the clock tower that Robin had noted to recheck how long they still had before dusk. Odd. While he could remember reading the tower in Robin's memories, he found that he was completely unable to read the clock's face. In fact, he realized that everything in the town that was more than a few feet away was blurred and any details were indiscernible. Deciding that it was one more mystery to be solved later, Anders hurried to catch the trio that had already set off and were crossing the bridge.

When they reached the other side of the bridge, Anders saw two men wearing light armor who were leading away one of the bandits. To his untrained eye their gear looked to be of worse make than the bandit's had been, but it was much better maintained in comparison. From Robin's memories he recognized the bandit as the one that Frederick had stabbed in the leg, which was easily confirmed by the man's limp as he was forcibly led into one of the buildings. Speaking to no one in particular, Anders asked, "What's going to happen to him?"

After glancing over to see what the amnesiac had been referring to, Frederick spoke up. "When we return to Ylisstol we shall inform the proper authorities of the attack," he bluntly answered. "A magistrate will be sent here pass judgement on any of the survivors."

Anders asked apprehensively, "What sort of judgement?"

Chrom sighed, "Frederick is being dramatic. Most of them end up being turned loose after a month or two since towns like Southtown aren't able to hold prisoners for much longer than that."

"You let them go? Don't they just group up and attack again?"

Chrom shrugged and explained, "They aren't much of a threat after being stripped of their equipment and some even end up joining the town that they had attacked. Most of the bandits in Ylisse and even some from Plegia aren't malicious, they are simply desperate for food and coin. If they worked hard during those couple months, the townsfolk tend to forgive them." He paused for a second, then continued darkly, "That said, today's group was larger and more dangerous than normal. I suspect they'll face the noose."

Anders paled at the thought and let the conversation end there as the group left town in silence.

* * *

It was several hours later when the quartet ended their march, in part because of Lissa's complaints about her legs hurting. Anders was likewise tired from the march, but had stubbornly refrained from saying as much; Lissa was doing enough complaining for the both of them after all. The cleric's already poor mood had not improved during the hike when Chrom and Frederick had lightly chastising her for running ahead of Frederick before he had finished clearing the area. While her rush to heal the injured villagers was admirable, the pair insisted she use more caution in the future.

The group had found a suitable clearing in the forest that they had been traveling through and got into the process of setting up camp under Frederick's direction. Chrom clearly knew what he was doing, but Anders and Lissa were almost useless in comparison. Anders was able to snag the job of gathering firewood so his ineptitude was less of a hindrance than it might have otherwise been.

Frederick seemed quite happy with the progress of their camp when he stepped away from the small campfire he had finished lighting. "Well done, now we need dinner. I should think a little hunting and gathering is in order."

When Chrom immediately volunteered to go with the knight, Anders felt the urge to account for his nonparticipation and awkwardly spoke. "I'd go with you, but I don't think I'd be much use. I doubt I'd even be able to spot anything." Frederick gave Anders a look that he was unable to read, but left with Chrom in search of something to eat without further comment.

Anders continued gathering sticks for several minutes after their departure when Lissa spoke up. "What did you mean by that?" At her question, Anders turned towards the cleric. She'd either finished her duties or was resting since she was sitting on a log watching him curiously. "Is there something wrong?"

"I'm not sure Lissa. I mean, I guess there is, but I don't know what it might be. Nothing hurts, so I don't think I'm injured, but I can only see a couple feet in front of me clearly. You known that clocktower back in town?" The cleric nodded before leaning over to her pack and started digging for something while Anders continued. "Robin could read it just fine, but when I tried all I could see was a giant blur."

"Why didn't you say something you doof! I examined Robin with my staff, but you seemed fine so I didn't bother. Now sit down!" Anders marveled at how quickly the girl had switched to being professional while he sat down on the log that she indicated. Well, as professional as one could be while calling their patient a 'doof.' Lissa walked over to Anders with her wooden healing staff in hand and the small stone that was atop the staff started to dimly glow as she held it over him. "You have all sorts of very minor injuries that any staff should be able to take care of without any issues and that includes your eyes. When was the last time that you were healed?"

"Not sure, but if it means anything, I don't think I've ever seen a glowing rock on a stick before." He paused as an idea suddenly came to him. "Wait, can that thing heal my amnesia?"

He started getting his hopes up, but they were immediately dashed by a sad shake of Lissa's head. "Sorry, but no. If it worked like that then we would have healed both of you back in Southtown. This will just take a second." The cleric closed her eyes and started concentrating while Anders sat completely still, not sure what to expect. The stone atop the staff slowly started to glow brighter as the soreness of the hike and aches that he hadn't even been fully aware of started to slip away. Most importantly, their surroundings suddenly sharpened and he could see everything clearly regardless of the distance.

"Lissa this is amazing, thank you so much!" Anders leapt up from his log and looked around in wonder. Between the elation of being able to see clearly and the soreness being gone, he felt well enough that he could have easily traveled another hour. "Is it normal to use staves to heal fatigue from traveling? Because I feel great now!"

Lissa gave him a cheerful smile at his question, "Nope! You said the exact reason why we healers avoid healing someone just because they're sore and not actually injured." His confused expression prompted her to continue. "See, soreness is your body's way of telling you that you're tired. If I were just to heal that off whenever it happened, eventually you would collapse from exhaustion even though you felt fine. That's what I'm guessing happened to Robin, but without either of your memories we don't know for sure."

"I guess that would make sense, but we didn't see anyone else was around who could would have been healing us to that extent... Well either way, thanks again! I don't know how I could have managed up until this point with such poor eyesight."

"That's the part that I don't get! Your vision shouldn't have even gotten nearly as bad as you said since any amount of healing would have fixed that up for you right away! If someone had been repeatedly healing Robin, why wouldn't they have ever healed you?" The cleric gave a small pout as she tried to think of a reason, but was coming up blank.

Anders shrugged, of all of the things that were weighing on his mind, that was one of the lesser issues as far as he was concerned. "One more mystery to add to the pile, I guess. And thanks for the lesson as well. Robin seems to know about magic from what she did back in town, but somehow this is all completely new to me..." It was bad enough that he didn't have any of his memories, but he was also coming up short on things that other people seemed to consider basic knowledge.

In contrast to his thoughts, Lissa's expression brightened back up. "I'm happy to help and if you have any other questions just ask!" She started to turn around to put her staff back in her pack, but paused and spun on her heels to face Anders again instead. "Oh I know! Here's something else you can learn! Look at the stone at the top of my staff."

Anders took a step closer to the girl and examined the item in the fading light. The blue circular stone atop the wooden staff was several inches long and was covered in small irregularities and marks. "It's a beat up rock?" That was the only thing that he could see that was particularly notable about it.

Surprisingly, that was the very answer that the cleric wanted as her smile only grew. "Yep! Whenever I use my staff, the focus stone will crack a little more. It's been filled full of healing magic and when I use it, I take some of that magic out. When it runs out the whole stone will turn to dust and I'll just have a piece of wood. That's the other reason why we don't use our staves for trivial injuries. No matter what I'm healing, I have to take the same amount of magic from the staff. So whether I'm treating a simple sore or a cut I use up just as much magic!"

"Oh, well I feel a bit bad then if I just made you use up some of that magic for such a minor issue."

The cleric dismissed his concerns with a small wave of her hands. "Don't worry about it, I offered! This is a weaker focus stone so I really didn't use up too much magic with just one healing spell. We really only need to be careful about conserving magic when using stronger foci. Anyways, if your eyesight was as bad as you said, getting it fixed up probably saved you from injuries in the future!"

Finding that he couldn't disagree with her reasoning, Anders returned her smile. "Well, thanks again for both the healing and the information. You've really made me feel better about everything that's happened today."

Before she could answer, the pair were interrupted by Chrom's voice calling out from the woods from the direction that the other two had gone. "Hey Anders, come here! We could use another hand bringing this back." Anders glanced at Lissa questioningly. What could they have caught that they needed a third person to bring back? Lissa's expression of dread only brought further questions so Anders headed off towards Chrom's voice to find out and help them bring back whatever they had gotten for dinner.

* * *

"Really Chrom?! You killed a bear?! I mean, come on! Who eats bear?! You're meddling with the food chain. Right, Robin? ...Uh, Robin?" Lissa looked over at the tactician for support and instead found that she was scarfing down as much of the bear meat as she could manage. "I suppose a person would enjoy just about anything with how hungry she was… But Anders definitely agrees with me! You saw how quickly he put on the cloak after he had finished helping bring it back!"

Chrom took a break from his own meal to admonish his sister over her pickiness. "He was being polite Liss, we all knew how tired Robin was. Anyway, just eat it. Meat is meat."

Lissa lightly scoffed before responding, though Chrom wasn't entirely sure which of his statements it was meant to refute. "Since when does meat smell like old boots?! Wait, I take that back, boots smell better!"

"Every experience makes us stronger, milady. Even those we don't enjoy."

The cleric's eyes narrowed when she saw the knight's empty plate. "Really? Then why don't I see _you_ eating, Frederick?"

"Me? Oh, well... I'm not hungry. I… I had a large lunch! Yes, quite."

Lissa rolled her eyes at Frederick's excuse and returned to picking at the food in front of her. Chrom was barely able to keep himself from laughing as he saw the Shepherd's lieutenant be flustered for the first time that he could remember. He turned towards Robin, both to see how she was doing and to hide his smile. Robin was currently leaning over towards the fire and was slowly reaching for her third helping of bear meat. When she noticed him looking, guilt and embarrassment flashed across her face and the laugh that Chrom had been able to previously stifle broke through.

"Don't worry about it Robin, take as much as you can eat. One of the great things about bear is that there's always plenty of food to go around."

"Yeah Robin! Even if I don't like it, you need as much food as you can get so eat up!" The tactician muttered a quick thanks to the siblings and finished grabbing more of the bear meat, though Chrom noticed that her expression hadn't changed.

Several minutes later Robin finished off her last helping and leaned back on the log she was sitting on with a sigh of contentment. "Thanks for dinner. I guess I underestimated just how hungry I was." She paused for a couple seconds before continuing, "Well I guess I'll say goodnight to you all. I'll let Anders handle sleeping on the ground for tonight."

Chrom frowned as he had to consider something about the pair's situation that hadn't crossed his mind before. "What about you? Don't you need to rest as well?"

"No idea. We'll find out tomorrow I suppose. I would hope not though, because otherwise we'll end up spending more than half of the day asleep between the two of us."

"I've been meaning to ask, what are doing when you're not… here?" Lissa asked, glad to have a distraction from the last bits of her meal.

"I'm not sure. My perception is always that I'm taking off my cloak and then I'm suddenly somewhere else with it back on. You can ask Anders though, his experience might be different than mine. Anyways, goodnight." With that, she dropped her cloak to the ground and after a flash of blue light Anders was sitting in her place. While Anders took a second to get his bearings, Chrom couldn't help but think that the pair was adjusting to their outlandish situation surprisingly well. Although, he supposed that with their amnesia, they didn't have much in terms of references for not being conjoined in such an odd manner.

After a couple of seconds of what appeared to be deep concentration, Anders looked at Lissa. "I agree with what Robin said regarding coming and going. I'm not aware of anything that happens when I'm not… here, as you put it. It's like I blink and I'm somewhere else."

"What about _that _though? You just continued a conversation that we were having with Robin! What's that like?"

Ander shrugged at the cleric's question. "It's just like any other memory, I guess. I remember talking to you guys, although it's a little weird since she speaks a bit differently than I do, so I can remember saying things that I wouldn't normally say. It goes beyond just conversations, I can clearly remember her going through Southtown when I barely saw any of the town myself." He then chuckled to himself and elaborated after seeing Chrom's questioning expression. "I was just thinking that I'm sure Robin wasn't pleased about having blurry memories before Lissa fixed my eyes."

Chrom sat up slightly at Anders' last statement. "You were injured?" He hadn't noticed anything wrong with Anders during their march after leaving town and was worried that the amnesiac was hiding injuries.

Lissa spoke up before her patient could answer. "Not hurt, but there was something wrong with his eyesight. I was going to tell you about it, but got distracted when you brought _that_ back." She gestured disdainfully towards the bear before continuing. "It's really strange Chrom. It was like he'd never been healed before, but that doesn't make sense. Every village gets visited at least once and a while by a traveling priest and there's no way he wouldn't have been healed then!"

Anders was largely ignoring their conversation about him after Lissa spoke for him and had started eyeing the remaining bear meat after Lissa had brought attention to it. With apprehension he started gathering some of the cooked meat from the fire spit and piling it onto the plate that Robin had been using. Judging from his expression, Chrom was starting to wonder if Lissa had been correct about Anders' opinion of their dinner after all.

"Perhaps Anders was raised in a truly sheltered life. It would explain some of gaps in his knowledge that Robin seems to have, despite their supposed shared amnesia." Chrom could only stare at the knight in disbelief. Frederick had been only inches away from implaing Anders hours ago and now he was making excuses for the amnesiac. Sensing his captain's surprise, Frederick continued, "I'm in no way saying I trust either Anders or Robin, but Lissa's examination of the pair does lend certain creedence to their claims."

Anders had taken a seat after grabbing his portion of dinner and looked up at the knight. "Thanks for the vote of confidence Frederick, really appreciate it." He grabbed one of the pieces of bear meat that was on his plate and closed his eyes before putting it in his mouth, as if he was afraid to look at the food. As a result, Anders didn't notice Frederick's slightly pained expression that his sarcastic comment caused.

"I have every wish to trust you both, but my station mandates otherwise."

Anders nodded slowly as he continued to eat, considering both Fredericks statement and the food. "I suppose I can understand that. Ugh, this bear is… not great. It tasted so much better in Robin's memories…" Despite his complaints, he slowly finished off his plate as the camp fell into silence apart from the crackling of their fire.

It wasn't long after the conversation died down that Lissa declared that she was going to go to sleep. Anders volunteered to take first watch which earned him a suspicious glance from Frederick. To avoid any disagreements, Chrom claimed that he wasn't very tired and volunteered to share the watch. He frankly didn't really see any point in a watch considering their location, but he knew that Frederick would stay up all night by himself if no one else were to take a shift. Judging from their breathing, it took both Frederick and Lissa took less than a minute to fall asleep after they had laid down on their bedrolls. It was just as well that he was joining Anders for the first watch; while Lissa and Frederick were obviously tired from the long and unusual day, Chrom was still wide awake thinking about the events of the day.

He glanced over at Anders and saw that the other man was staring into the fire with his eyes seemingly unfocused. "Are you sure you don't want to rest? I'm perfectly fine taking the watch by myself." Chrom softly offered, trying to make sure he didn't wake the two that had already fallen asleep.

Anders looked up with a start and replied at the same volume. "I'm fine Chrom, but thanks for the offer. I guess I got plenty of sleep while lying on that hill before you found me." He sighed before continuing, "I was just thinking about what Frederick said about gaps in my knowledge. Robin can obviously cast spells and she says she knows battlefield tactics, but I feel like I've even forgotten what I know. I didn't know much about setting up camp and I don't think I know how to use a sword. Even all of the information that Lissa told me about healing staffs was completely new to me and it seemed like fairly basic stuff."

"Gods, I can't imagine what you're going through… If there's anything I can do to help, just ask."

"You've already done so much by letting us travel with you. I'd probably still be in Southtown freaking out if you guys had left without us. I don't think Robin would be doing nearly as well without your help either."

Chrom couldn't help but notice that Anders was referring to himself and Robin collectively. He decided that it was a large improvement from back in town when he seemed afraid of both the cloak and Robin by extension. "It's really no problem. I was actually hoping that you and Robin would join the Shepherds. Naga knows I need a tactician and it's probably the best place for both of you to be while you try to regain your memories."

Anders' downcast expression immediately lit up at the offer. "Really?! That would be amazing Chrom, thank you! I mean, if Robin isn't against it that is. Want me to put on the cloak so you can ask her?"

Chrom chucked at Anders' excitement and shook his head. "Let's wait until morning. I don't want the light to wake up Lissa and Frederick."

Anders frowned, "What light?"

"I guess you two don't see it. There's a bright light whenever you switch. When you put on the cloak there's a bright light and when Robin takes it off it's blue instead of white."

"Huh, I didn't know that. That's probably good for Robin to know so we don't try to switch while on a stealth mission or something."

Chrom grinned triumphantly, "See, there's plenty that you know! I wouldn't have immediately made that connection. I bet you just haven't been in a situation where your knowledge is needed yet. It's been less than a day afterall."

Anders' grin returned as he considered Chrom's point. "You're right, there's no point in getting down this early on. There's got to be things that I'm good at. It's just a matter of time before we find out what they are."

With that the pair fell into silence while they waited for the Frederick's turn to take over the watch. It was shortly before it was time to wake up the knight when Chrom suddenly sat up. He didn't know what it was, but something about the air felt off. Anders noticed the other man's movement and sat up as well, looking around. "Did you hear something Chrom?"

Anders had forgotten to soften his voice and Chrom noticed with chagrin that his sister stirred and then sat up in her bed roll. The cleric let out a big yawn and looked at the pair by the smoldering fire. "What's wrong, big brother?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, but... something is amiss…"

Lissa yawned again and looked at her brother grumpily. She was not pleased to have been woken up with such a vague explanation. "Define 'something'"

Chrom frowned. Something about the night just felt _off_, but he couldn't place it. "I'm not sure... I think I'll have a look around." He stood up from his log with a stretch and continued looking around into the forest. He noticed that Anders had stayed seated and seemed more confused than anything else. Apparently he didn't have the same misgivings about the night that Chrom did.

Lissa finally realized her brother's concern and scrambled to her feet. "Not alone, you won't! I'm coming too." Before she moved to Chrom's side, she grabbed her staff from her pack which earned her a nod of approval from him.

Anders quickly stood up and interjected before the siblings could start to leave the campsite. "Woah, wait a second guys. If you two went out there and something _was _wrong, what then? I'm pretty sure Frederick would actually kill me if I let you guys go and you got hurt."

"He would not!" Lissa insisted, but hesitated before continuing. "But Anders is right Chrom... if something is out there, maybe we should stay at the campsite..."

Just as back in Southtown, Chrom's every instinct shouted at him to go forward immediately and find what was wrong rather than have it come to them. He instead took a deep breath and forced himself to stop. He had been able to make the right decision back in town and that had even been without outside input. "Fine, I won't leave camp. There's definitely something amiss though." He continued looking around in the forest as his hand unconsciously went to rest on Falchion's hilt.

Hearing rustling from behind him, Chrom turned and saw that their discussion had apparently awoken Frederick as well. "I'm glad to hear milord is willing to listen to reason." The knight started donning his armor after giving Anders a look of gratitude for keeping his charge in check.

All of them were on edge now as they peered into the forest. Lissa in particular seemed perturbed as she squinted into the forest, trying to make out anything beyond the edge of the light that their fire was providing. "It sure is dark… and quiet. Where did the birds go?"

Now that it had been pointed out, it was painfully obvious of how silent the forest had become. It seemed like the only noises in the entire forest were the ones that were coming from their campsite. The crackling of the fire, the crunching of leaves beneath their feet as they shifted around, and even their own breathing seemed deafeningly loud. "Something is wrong here…" Chrom muttered as all four of them stood stock still. Everyone was straining their eyes, trying to make out something in the gloom of the night.

Without warning, the stillness was violently disturbed by the earth rumbling and shaking. The entire group could barely keep their footing when the ground started to shift beneath them. Lissa shrieked out in surprise and fear, and Chrom found he had no reassurances to offer her in his own shock. In the distance there were several loud crashing noises as large trees fell to the ground. Even more concerning was that they could see the ground starting to tilt upwards as fire spewed from the earth and flew through the air. Lissa's observation from less than a minute ago was now woefully incorrect as the forest burst into sound and light.

"We need to move! Now!" Frederick barked to his companions, shaking them out of their stunned stupor. He quickly brought his horse over by Lissa and lifted the girl onto the animal despite her protests. The second she was settled, he mounted the horse and started cantering away from the flames. Anders immediately took off after the pair, desperately clutching Robin's cloak to his chest. Chrom stood for a second in awe of the sudden destruction and then started sprinting after the others.

Chrom judged that they had traveled about a half-mile before Frederick decided that they were safe and ended their flight. They had reached another clearing that was slightly larger than the one that they had used for their campsite and could barely see the flames of the forest fire in the distance.

"Are… lava spewing earthquakes… normal here?" Anders asked between heavy breaths. Before any of the others could reply, Anders' eyes widened in shock as he pointed into the sky behind Chrom. "Or that?!"

Lissa had been looking in the same direction as Anders and called out to her brother in a terrified voice, "Ch-Chrom, what _is_ that?!"

Chrom whipped around to see what had disturbed the pair and was astounded to see what appeared to be a giant blue eye floating in the sky. It was at least fifty feet off the ground and twenty tall, but what was even more concerning is that several creatures were starting to come out of it. Although he couldn't make out any details due to the distance, they looked humanoid but had horribly misshapen features. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a bright flash of light to his right and nodded to himself in approval. He had a feeling that they would need Robin for whatever came next.

* * *

**A/N: First off, I want to apologize for how long this chapter took to come out. The first section of the chapter had some extremely major issues in my original draft and it took me a long time to figure out how to fix it. I try to keep my writing/editing progress updated on my profile so if you're ever curious how far along I am with something you can check that out. I don't think my draft of Chapter 3 has nearly as many issues as this one did, so the delay should be a lot shorter.**

**Thank you to everyone who followed/favorited the first chapter, I really appreciate it. A massive thank you to my beta reader Robert for all of the help as well. These first two chapters would be significantly weaker without his input.**


	3. Creatures of the Night

_"Knowing the failures of the other worlds, I used my magics to protect you in ways that my peers had not."_

* * *

Robin forced herself to push aside her shock at the situation that she had been swapped into. There would be time enough to process what was going on once she was sure that they weren't in danger. For now, she watched closely as four creatures finished extracting themselves from the large floating eye and plummeted to the ground. When the creatures landed, they immediately pulled themselves to their feet and turned towards the Shepherds. The floating eye and the distant fire gave off enough light that Robin could make out their features despite the darkness of the night. All four had dark gray skin and a gaunt appearance, but something about their movements made her think they were far from weak. The chill of the evening seemed to magnify when Robin saw that there was an eerie purple glow where their eyes should have been. After observing their group several seconds, the creatures slowly started shambling towards the clearing, holding weapons at their sides.

"They're armed so be ready for a fight if they are hostile! Lissa, dismount and get to the center of the clearing. Watch the surrounding area and let us know if you spot something else unusual. If someone gets injured, make sure that you don't put yourself at risk while healing them. Frederick, use your mobility to get in and out of the fight. Try not to get tied up fighting any single one of them. Chrom, we're the front line while Frederick picks them off. Stay between them and Lissa at all times."

As she barked out the orders Robin was pleased to see that each of the Shepherds started acting immediately. Frederick helped Lissa dismount and then turned his horse to face the approaching creatures with his lance at the ready. Lissa stayed where Frederick had deposited her and gripped her staff tightly, though Robin was unsure if this was due to determination or fear. Robin withdrew the bronze sword from her cloak and stepped next to Chrom who had likewise unsheathed his sword. She hoped that swinging a sword wouldn't be nearly as draining as casting spells had been and that she'd be able to stay in the fight for longer than before.

"You know, you didn't really need to tell me to protect my sister," Chrom joked as he warily watched the approaching forms. Now that the creatures were closer, the Shepherds could see that there were puffs of black smoke that spewed from their mouths whenever they took a step forward.

"It pays to be explicit when it comes to battlefield instructions," Robin replied with a smile.

"Hmm. I suppose you _are _the expert."

"Perhaps we could suspend the banter until after the danger has passed," Frederick said firmly.

Before Chrom or Robin could reply, the four creatures broke into a sprint that their previous halted movements hadn't implied that they were capable of. Frederick immediately answered their charge and rode forward with his lance pointed at the leftmost of the creatures. The creature seemed unfazed at being the target of a charge as its only reaction to the knight's approach was to start to swing its sword haphazardly at him. Using the superior range of his weapon, Frederick scored what should have been a devastating hit on the creature's side before it could even finish its swing. The force of the blow propelled the creature back several steps while the knight continued charging past, but Robin was astounded to see that it didn't appear to be injured. In fact, it seemed that the blow had been absorbed and the only sign that it had been struck was a stream of black smoke coming from the injury. After a second, the creature started moving again and took off in the direction that Frederick had ridden past. Even more worrisome was that despite the blow it had just taken, the creature's speed didn't seem to be reduced.

"Are such horrific creatures commonplace in these lands?" Robin tersely asked as she braced herself for impact with the three that were still charging at her and Chrom. If these monsters were a common foe, she might have to reconsider her intention of accepting Chrom's offer.

Chrom replied with equal trepidation while leveling his sword at the creatures. "They're not from Ylisse, I promise you that." Just as he finished speaking, their inexplicable foes reached the pair and simultaneously swung with their weapons. Chrom was able to sidestep the axe that was aimed at him and quickly parried the sword. Robin likewise deflected the third creature's axe with her sword and the pair began their retaliation. Chrom disengaged his sword from the opposing sword-wielder and swung a wide cut that smoothly sliced across the creature's bare chest as if there was only the slightest resistance from its body. Just as with Frederick's attack, the blow that would have been a debilitating injury on a normal opponent only caused the creature to momentarily pause and for smoke to start billowing out of the wound.

Robin tried for a different strategy and stabbed at the arm that the monster was using to wield its axe. Though their failed attacks so far implied that the creatures couldn't be stopped by normal wounds, she might be able to at least disable its method of attack. Unfortunately, her own movements still felt sluggish and Robin wasn't able to move fast enough to land the blow as the creature pulled away. Cursing her fatigue, she resigned herself to fighting a defensive battle knowing that her odds of being able to press an attack would only decrease as the fight went on.

The most concerning result from her inability to fight proactively was that Chrom would have to take on both of his opponents at once until Frederick could come to his aid. From her glance in the knight's direction, he had been unable to quickly return to their side after his initial charge when the first creature followed him. Due to how close the creatures had been to the edge of the clearing during the initial charge, the knight had been forced to come to a halt instead of being able to swing around for another charge. That meant that he was in the exact situation that Robin had hoped to avoid and he was fighting the creature that had followed him from horseback. While Frederick's horse had been instrumental in the earlier fight against the bandits, the animal was clearly disturbed by the creature and its skittish movements were making it difficult for Frederick to land a blow.

The one thing that the Shepherds had in their favor was that there didn't seem to be any coordination amongst their foes; the two creatures that Chrom was facing made no effort to cover each other and didn't have any noticeable strategy. Any human opponents in this situation would have circled around the swordsman in an attempt to flank him, but both creatures stood in place and only advanced when Chrom was forced to give ground. This meant that Chrom was mostly able to hold his own against his two opponents, though there were a few close calls from blows that he was barely able to avoid.

Lissa's voice pierced through the din of battle, "Something else is coming out of the eye!" Sure enough, when Robin glanced up at the apparition in the sky she could see that there was another figure starting to emerge. This time the form leaving the eye was wearing blue clothing and looked human, as opposed to the gray-skinned creatures they were currently engaged with. The distraction came at the wrong time and when Robin looked up, the axe-wielder she was fighting landed a chop on her side. Robin loudly grunted in pain as the air was forced from her lungs at the impact. She could hear Chrom and Lissa call out to her in worry, but was unable to respond as she gasped for breath. Despite the injury, the tactician was finally able to land a direct blow with her sword as she desperately stabbed the creature where its stomach should be. As with Chrom and Frederick's previous attacks, her sword pierced the creature with less resistance than expected and the wound was ignored apart from a short pause.

Robin staggered backwards at the latest failed attempt to do any lasting damage to the creatures. Without looking at the injury, she knew that she should fall back to Lissa to be inspected; a wound like this could easily have long term consequences if not quickly treated. However, if she did retreat then the axe-wielder would either turn to attack Chrom or would follow her back to Lissa like the one that Frederick had initially attacked had done to him. Either outcome would be a disaster for their prospects of winning a battle that already seemed impossible when she considered that they had yet to inflict any lasting damage to the creatures.

Just as she resigned to continuing to fight against the odds, the creature Robin was facing went completely still and the tactician could see the tip of a sword piercing through its chest. After a second, it convulsed slightly and then the creature and its weapon turned into purple smoke, leaving no trace of its existence. Standing behind where the creature had been moments before, there was a young man with blue hair who Robin guessed was the figure that Lissa had spotted coming out of the floating eye. The man's sword was held steady where it had pierced the creature while he regarded Robin. Oddly, the young man was wearing a blue mask that hid everything above his mouth and obscured his expression apart from a small frown.

"Only fatal blows will work. Hit the head, neck, heart, or spine to destroy them!" the newcomer called to the other Shepherds in a rough voice. Robin wasn't sure because of the pain, but she thought the stranger muttered something else as his gaze lingered on her. Before Robin could respond, the masked man abruptly turned and began attacking one of the two enemies that Chrom was fighting. Now that some of the pressure was taken off and he knew how to defeat the creatures, Chrom was able to land a fatal blow to the creature's heart while the masked man took care of the other by cutting through its neck. The fading purple smoke near Frederick confirmed that he had likewise destroyed his opponent.

Now that the danger had passed, Robin allowed her legs to give out as she dropped to the ground on her knees and let her sword fall at her side. Lissa was instantly next to her and the cleric was holding her already glowing staff while she moved Robin's cloak aside to get access to the tactician's injury. Robin pointedly avoided looking at the exposed wound, she wasn't in a hurry to see her own insides while Lissa worked. "It'll be okay Robin," the cleric said reassuringly. "I'm going to examine your wound and…"

Robin became significantly more anxious about the severity of the situation when Lissa trailed off and started to frantically wonder how bad the wound actually was. The cut hadn't felt deep, but maybe it was so bad that she'd instantly gone into shock and was numb to most of the pain. What worried her most of all was that Lissa hadn't even started using her staff which might mean-

Before Robin could finish that thought, Lissa noticed the tactician's wide eyes and hurriedly explained, "Oh gods, I'm so sorry Robin! It's just that there's no wound..." Robin's fears evaporated as she stared at Lissa incredulously then glanced down at her side and was dumbfounded when she didn't see any trace of an injury. How could she be uninjured after being cut by that axe? Even her cloak appeared to be in pristine condition in the spot where she knew that it had been sliced through. And if there was no physical evidence of the hit, why did it hurt so much?

"Lissa, is Robin alright?" Chrom frantically asked as he ran over to them, but the swordsman stopped short when he saw that Robin seemed fine apart from the pained expression on her face. "Did you already heal her? I don't see any blood…"

Robin answered through gritted teeth as she tried to push past the stinging pain throughout her body. "You saw that... thing hit me and I _felt _it... I _still_ feel it, but it's everywhere…" As she spoke, the pain was miraculously starting to dissipate and was quickly replaced by a heavy fatigue that felt as if she was being smothered by a heavy blanket. "I'm so… so tired though…" She said and started to close her eyes.

Lissa quickly put an end to that by snapping her fingers in front of Robin's face. "Hey! No sleeping! You can rest once I'm sure that you're okay and that falling asleep won't make it worse!" With that Lissa busied herself examining Robin with her staff and occasionally poking the tactician in her side to keep her alert.

With a worried look, Chrom left his sister to her patient and returned to where the masked man was standing. Nearby, Frederick was silently alternating his gaze between the floating eye and the stranger from atop his mount, which had calmed down now that the creatures were gone. Still dazed, Robin wasn't able to catch what Chrom and the mysterious man were saying, but it seemed dire from what she could see of their expressions. "What's… wrong with me Lissa?" Robin mumbled to the cleric.

"I don't know... but we'll find out and keep you safe," Lissa promised.

"Thanks…" After about a minute Robin slowly started to feel more alert and shakily pulled herself to her feet. As she stood, she retrieved her sword from the ground despite Lissa's protests. Robin knew that she wasn't yet fully recovered from the phantom wound, but she also couldn't waste time lying down. When she looked up at the sky, Robin was relieved to see that the floating eye was slowly starting to shrink. She could also hear what sounded like a horse galloping towards them and turned towards the sound.

From the direction as the approaching horse, she heard an unfamiliar voice call out, "Captain Chrom! I'm coming!" Chrom was just starting to turn towards the new arrival when several things happened at once within the clearing. The first event was a cavalier with short red hair and matching colored armor burst into the area at a full gallop. Behind her on the saddle was a holstered lance and an archer that was desperately trying not to fall off the galloping horse. He had long blue-gray hair and was wearing stylish clothing that seemed quite out of place on a forested battlefield. At the same time as their arrival, the floating eye shrunk down to nothing and disappeared with a loud pop. The last event was that the shadows around the clearing shifted and everyone in the clearing started as they heard loud groaning noises come from around them. Unlike the previous group, these creatures didn't advance on them and instead stood at the edge of the clearing as if they were observing those within.

"Gods! There are more of them!" Chrom exclaimed and dislodged his sword from the ground. It appeared that he had stabbed it into the earth rather than resheathing it in his hurry to check on Robin. "Sully, are you ready to fight?"

"What do you take me for Chrom?" The cavalier replied while eyeing the creatures that had them surrounded. "All right, you ash-faced freaks! Which one of ya wants to try my lance on for size first? I know just the spot for it: shoved right up your-"

Chrom loudly coughed, interrupting her and gestured to the masked man besides him. "According to Marth here, you need to hit them in vital points to end them. Anywhere else just causes them to hesitate." He paused, "Who's that with you?"

Sully shrugged, "Dunno. Ruffles insisted that I bring him with and I didn't have time to argue."

The man in question leapt off Sully's horse and bowed deeply at the group. "I am myth and legend! The man who puts the 'arch' in 'archer'! I am he who strides-"

"Your name." Frederick growled.

"...Er, my name. It's Virion."

By this point Robin was feeling almost back to normal and had been carefully examining their opponents during the conversation while Lissa continued to fuss over her. From her count the new group of creatures consisted of three swordsmen, five axemen, and one archer. Their numbers gave them a distinct advantage, but with the new reinforcements Robin was still confident. One notable thing about the new batch of creatures was that one of the axemen was about a foot taller than the others. Even if you were to discount its size, the larger creature was unusual in that it was standing just a few feet away from the archer while the rest of the creatures were equally spread out around the edge of the clearing.

"Great, we know everyone's names," Robin said briskly. "Virion, you're with me and Lissa in the center. Take out their archer if you can, but most importantly keep shooting. Whenever you hit them it causes them to stop for a second and that's one second someone else can use to finish them off. Frederick and Sully, you don't have enough room to get to a full charge so just stay as mobile as you can and try to pick them off. Chrom and Marth, stay near the three of us and kill anything that gets close."

"The hell are you?" Sully demanded once Robin had finished her instructions.

The tactician pinched the bridge of her nose and was about to reply that it didn't matter when Chrom answered for her. "Robin is the Shepherds' new tactician. Follow her commands in combat as if they were my own!" The newcomers nodded at Chrom's explanation and everyone moved themselves into the positions that Robin had dictated. The one exception was Marth, who once again frowned at tactician and gave her a look that was indiscernible because of the mask. Despite the hesitation, he soon moved into his position as well. When everyone was ready, both groups stared at each other across the clearing, each seemingly waiting for the other to make the first move.

"Virion, how many arrows do you have?" Robin inquired. She would have to change her orders for the man if he only had a handful.

"Your question wounds me, fair lady!" The man started replying extravagantly, his fear of Frederick gone. "I carry a full complement of two dozen arrows in my quiver. I could do no less as the archest of archers! And might I say, my good lady, that I find myself in awe of your brilliant strate-"

"Yeah, thanks." Robin interjected, rolling her eyes while Lissa softly giggled. "If they're just going to stand there then start shooting them."

"Of course milady! I shall start by dispatching my counterpart as requested." Everyone in the clearing tensed up as Virion drew his bow and nocked an arrow. There was no doubt in Robin's mind that as soon as the arrow was fired the battle would start and it seemed everyone else had the same feeling. Virion released his arrow with a twang of his bowstring, shooting the projectile towards the enemy archer. The arrow appeared to be flying true and looked to be on a trajectory to hit the monster in the middle of its forehead. At the last moment before the arrow connected, the large axe-wielder stepped in front of the arrow's target and the projectile hit it in the center of the chest. As the arrow struck it, the creature let out a loud groan and all of the others started to shamble towards the Shepherds.

Seeing no other explanation, Robin called out, "That one is coordinating with the others! Take it out if you get the opportunity, but otherwise stick to the plan!" While she gave the orders, she sheathed her bronze sword and withdrew her Thunder tome, earning herself a shout of protest from Lissa.

"Robin! You can't use magic, you almost killed yourself casting Thunder earlier and you were hurt just a few minutes ago!"

Lissa looked like she was about to slap Robin's tome out of her hands so the tactician quickly explained. "I think I know what went wrong before. What you told Anders about pulling magic from your focus stone applies to anima magic as well, right?" Lissa hesitantly nodded, apparently unsure about the mechanics of combat magic. Even with her uncertainty, it was good enough to confirm Robin's suspicions. "I don't think I was pulling power out of my tome when I was casting earlier. That's probably why it took so much out of me."

"Milady is truly a paragon of magical prowess if you were able to perform tomeless magic several times in one day and remain standing!" Virion contributed while he continued to fire his arrows at the advancing creatures. Robin saw an arrow pierce one of the axemen in the heart and the creature silently turned into purple smoke. Marth and the Shepherds were likewise performing their roles admirably, Chrom and Marth were holding the attention of most of the creatures while Sully and Frederick were staying mobile and picking off creatures whenever they got the chance. The only disappointing aspect of the fight was that no one had managed to approach the creatures' leader or the archer he was protecting. So far, only one of the enemies' arrows had made contact and it had been deflected off of Frederick's armor.

Despite this, Robin knew that something had to tip the scales of the fight further in their favor or one of her allies would likely be injured soon through attrition if nothing else. She decided to take Virion's statement as the final confirmation of her theory and started concentrating on her tome. Now that she was looking for it, she readily found the repository of magical power that was stored in the large book and when she reached out with her mind, she could feel some of it flow into her. Marth was currently engaged with two of the swordsmen so Robin turned to face one of them with one arm extended and shouted, "Thunder!"

This time when she invoked the spell, the tome she was holding in her left hand forced itself open and the pages started turning wildly as if there was a heavy wind. At the same time, from her right hand came a bolt of electricity that shot through the air towards one of the creatures that Marth was fighting. The bolt's flight was erratic and ended up hitting the monster in the shoulder instead of the neck as she had planned. Marth instantly took advantage of the pause that the spell had caused and stabbed the creature directly through its heart. As soon as the strike connected, Marth pulled his blade out and turned his full attention to the other creature without waiting to watch the transformation into smoke.

"A thanks would have been nice…" Robing muttered as she took a second to examine how she felt after the spell. She was a little drained, but nothing near the level of exhaustion from earlier. The pages of her tome stopped fluttering and two of them seemingly tore themselves out of the book, then started to float away. Before they could fly more than a foot, electricity arced across the pages and they quickly turned to ash. Her satisfaction outweighing her annoyance at Marth, Robin turned back to Lissa and answered the cleric's worried look with a grin. "See Lissa? I was right, nothing to worry about."

"Well alright…" Lissa still looked worried, but turned her attention to the battle instead of nervously staring at Robin. After a second of observation the healer stamped her foot in frustration. "Ugh, I feel so useless! I want to help!"

"My dear girl, are you not a cleric?" Virion asked as he fired another arrow at the enemy archer, but it was once again blocked again by its leader. "Your presence alone is a great help to your allies in combat! You give them the courage to fight to the very height of their abilities as they know that should they fall, they shall be well tended to."

"But that would mean that they get hurt in the first place!" Lissa argued, glaring at the archer. "And why am I 'girl' when Robin is 'milady'?! I'm a lady!"

Robin decided it would be best to cut off this particular conversation and quickly said, "Let's limit any discussions to the fight at hand." Thankfully, both Lissa and Virion didn't have a reply to that so Robin was able to refocus on the state of the battle.

Miraculously, the Shepherds still hadn't taken any injuries so Robin decided to maintain the current orders. While reading herself to cast another Thunder, she decided that it was likely best to use the spell to give her allies an easier time hitting their opponents rather than trying to aim for the creature's vital points herself. The erratic flight path of Thunder did not lend itself to hitting the precise shots needed to kill these creatures, so just relying on the stun should provide the best results. After scanning the battlefield for a suitable target, she cast another Thunder at the creature that Frederick was currently riding towards and hit it in the chest. The monster immediately stopped in its tracks, but the unexpected halt caused Frederick's lance strike to go wide and almost miss when he rode past. Thankfully, the knight was able to flick his wrist so that his lance still struck the creature in the neck and turned it into purple smoke.

"Sorry!" Robin called out to Frederick, who continued riding past without commenting, though the tactician thought she saw a slight frown on his face. Robin's attention was forcibly pulled away from the knight when she heard a loud whinney and Sully cursing. When she turned towards the noise, she could see that the cavalier had tried to make a pass at the large axeman, but it had responded with a swing of its axe and had connected with a partial hit with its axe on Sully's horse. The horse had managed to shy away from the full brunt of the blow and it staggered forward a few more steps before collapsing to the ground. Sully was able to jump off and she avoided getting pinned by her own mount, but the sudden loss of their mobility worried Robin. Compounding the Shepherd's issues, the enemy archer fired another arrow from behind its leader and hit Chrom in the back of his left leg, causing him to fall to his knees with a cry of pain.

"Sully, help Chrom! Virion, put pressure on that archer. Don't let him get another shot off!" Robin called before firing a Thunder at the large axeman, hoping to get lucky and hit one of its vital points. Instead, the spell impacted the creature in the leg and didn't have any effect apart from distracting it for long enough so that Sully could move away.

Sully was clearly loathe to leave her horse behind when the poor beast was injured, but ran towards Chrom and was soon standing side by side with Marth protecting the fallen man. After a second of shock, Lissa also ran to her brother's side with Robin close behind, keeping herself between the cleric and any nearby monsters. Thankfully, most of them had been destroyed by this point, so the Shepherds' crumbling formation wasn't as devastating as it could have been.

In fact, the count of remaining enemies dropped down to four as Frederick had ended another one of the axemen with a blow to the heart while Lissa and Robin were running to Chrom's side. Robin cast another Thunder while moving and shocked the one that Sully was fighting, allowing the cavalier to puncture it through the chest with her lance. Sully's blow must have severed the creature's spine since it quickly dissolved into the now familiar smoke. Marth swung his sword in an arc and caught the neck of final creature that was near the bulk of the Shepherds.

With a guttural roar, the large monster started swinging its axe wildly and charged towards Virion, who was now by himself in the middle of the clearing. The archer lithely jumped out of the way while firing an arrow at the same time, destroying the creature with the bow by hitting it with an arrow through the head. Before the large creature could change targets or start another charge, Frederick moved between it and Virion. Unlike all of the previous creatures they had dealt with, this one was actively trying to defend itself and repeatedly blocked the knight's lance with its axe. While it was occupied with blocking Frederick, Virion shot another arrow and struck it in the back at that same time that Robin hit it with a Thunder from the side. The two blows were able to put it off-balance enough that Frederick was finally able to get a clean hit to the creature's chest and the final monster was destroyed.

Not wasting a second, Robin called to the two men who were still standing apart from the rest of the group. "Keep and eye out for more of them, but I think we're safe now." Virion nodded at the order and nocked another arrow while slowly pivoting around so that he was watching all sides of their clearing. Frederick hesitated and glanced at Chrom, but apparently decided that he was safe enough with Sully and Lissa looking over him. Without a word he rode off into the edge of the forest to do a sweep for more of the creatures. Robin sighed and knelt down next to Lissa who was already in the process of treating her brother's wounds. "Is he alright Lissa?"

Chrom spoke up before his sister could reply. "I'm doing… fine," he said grunting slightly in pain before continuing. "You all did well, especially you Marth. It seems you live up to the legend your name carries; you certainly fight like a hero. Where did you learn your way with a sword?"

Marth stood up slightly taller and stiffly responded, "I'm not here to talk about me. This world teeters at the brink of a horrible calamity. What you saw tonight was but a prelude. You have been warned." With that, the swordsman strode purposefully out of the clearing while everyone else was too shocked by his sudden departure to try to stop him.

"Huh? What's teetering where now?" Lissa started to say, looking up from her brother's leg. When she saw that Marth had almost left the clearing, she called after him, "Hey, wait!" However, Marth completely ignored her and walked into the darkness of the forest without further comment.

"Not much for conversation, is he?" Robin mused as she stared at the spot where he had disappeared into the night.

Frederick had finished his quick sweep of the nearby area and returned to their side. "I didn't see any trace of more of those creatures. As for him, it appears his skills lie elsewhere. I wager we'll hear his name again... But for now I'm more concerned about Chrom and the capital. Lissa, when will he be fit for travel? We should make haste if at all possible."

Lissa had finished extracting the arrow and healing Chrom's wound, but shook her head. "It'll be a while Frederick. I still need to look at Sully's horse and Chrom didn't get any sleep. After that injury he needs to rest for at least a few hours. Besides, Robin hasn't slept either and I bet neither have Sully and Virion."

Chrom started to sit up in protest only to lower himself back down to the ground with a grimace. "I think she's right Frederick. I don't think I'll be moving for a while… and I am pretty tired." At Chrom's pained reply, Lissa's expression changed to an odd mixture of satisfaction and worry. Without waiting to discuss any more, she bustled over to Sully's horse with the cavalier right on her heels.

"Very well. I will return to our campsite and recover the rest of our gear if it hasn't already burned. I suggest you get your rest milord." With that the knight rode off back in the direction that they had fled from when the earthquakes started occurring.

"If we are to make camp here, then I will rest as well! Despite tonight's horrors, I know that I shall sleep most soundly as I dream of the beauteous ladies that I met this day!" While speaking Virion deeply bowed towards Robin. It looked like he was about to do the same in the direction of Lissa and Sully, but stopped short when he noticed the scowl on Chrom's face.

"I'm tired and I've had enough of _that _for one night," Robin groaned. "I'm out Chrom. Feel better."

Chrom smiled despite the pain. "Thank you for your help Robin. We would have been in a much tighter bind tonight if not for your tactics and spells."

"What do you mean 'I'm out'?" Sully asked as she turned away from her injured mount to scowl at the tactician, "You gonna run off too?"

"Not quite…" With that Robin waved to Lissa, though the girl was too busy tending to Sully's horse to notice, and slipped off her cloak. With a flash of blue light, Anders was standing in her place with a worried on his face when he spotted Chrom lying on the ground.

"The hell?!"

"Good heavens!"

While Anders processed the memories that he was receiving from Robin, Chrom hastily tried to explain. "Meet Anders, our other newest Shepherd. He and Robin swap in and out with each other whenever they take that cloak on or off." He gave a small shrug from his seated position on the ground, "We're not sure why yet, but it seems safe enough."

Sully stood still for a couple of seconds in surprise, then grunted, "...I'm too tired to deal with this." She abruptly turned and looked back at Lissa, "Will Cain be alright?"

Lissa glanced up from her healing efforts and waved away the cavalier's concerns. "He'll be fine Sully, go to sleep!"

The cavalier sighed in relief and removed a couple bedrolls from her horses' pack that Lissa had taken off before she had started treating the animal and tossed one at Chrom. "Sorry Ruffles, only got one extra. Frederick might bring back another for ya." She gave Anders a final bewildered look and then lay down on her bedroll after unstrapping part of her armor. Chrom likewise unrolled his bedroll and gingerly lay down on it, moving slowly to avoid upsetting his injury.

Anders noticed that Virion was still staring at him so he awkwardly put out his hand. "Virion right? That was some nice archery back there."

The other man shook himself out of his shock and accepted Anders' handshake by instinct. "Why thank you my good man!" He paused, his arm mid-shake, "Might I enquire as to the nature of your transfor-"

Anders quickly interjected, "Why don't you get some rest, we can talk in the morning." He did not feel like having this conversation in the middle of the night. Thankfully, Virion slowly nodded and lowered himself onto the ground, muttering to himself about the indignity of sleeping on the ground. Anders chuckled softly and walked over to Lissa after picking up Robin's cloak. He was surprised by how calm Sully's horse was being while it was healed, but supposed a warhorse would be unfortunately used to injuries. "You doing alright Lissa?"

The cleric looked up at Anders and gave a stiff nod. "I'm fine. I have more than enough power in my staff to heal up Cain here."

Anders frowned, "You know that's not what I was asking."

Lissa shuddered slightly and returned to concentrating on healing Sully's horse. "I know. It's the only answer I can give right now…" she softly replied.

"Well alright... I know we just met, but if you need someone to talk to, just let me know. I'm going to keep an eye out for Frederick and help him out when he gets back."

Lissa gave Anders a wane smile and mumbled, "Thank you…" Before Anders could walk more than a few feet away, the cleric spun around. "Wait, don't you need to sleep too? You were up as long as Chrom was!"

Anders just shrugged, "Yeah, but I wasn't involved in the fighting. Anyway, I'm not tired."

Lissa lightly scoffed at that, but returned to tending to her charge without further comment. Anders soon heard Frederick ride back into their new camp with seemingly all their supplies from the previous one. He was surprised to see that they were all still somehow intact and walked over to help the knight unpack. "You managed to get back there before the fire spread?" Anders asked, "I guess we didn't need to leave the campsite after all."

"On the contrary. The forest was burned all the way to our campsite, but it appears to have extinguished itself. If we had stayed the fighting would have been much more difficult."

Anders shuddered at the idea. From what he had seen in Robin's memories it had been a hard enough fight with the situation they had been in, adding fire to it likely would have been a disaster. "Do you have any idea what those creatures were? Robin and Chrom didn't seem to know."

"I do not know either and that worries me." The knight admitted, "Fighting an unknown enemy that can appear without warning is why I am concerned about the rest of the halidom."

"Marth seemed familiar with them," Anders said hopefully.

"Indeed." Frederick scowled at the mention of the mysterious swordsman's name, but did not elaborate.

Anders managed to hold back a sigh despite his frustration. Apparently Frederick's statement from dinner still held true and he wasn't trusted enough by the knight to get his full thoughts on the matter. Instead of trying to push the man, Anders motioned for two of the bedrolls that were strapped to his horse. "I'm going to take one of these over to Lissa and try to get her to sleep and then lie down myself. To be honest I'm still not tired, but I think it'll make her feel better if I at least try." He had considered staying up and helping Frederick continue the watch, but got the feeling that the knight would have declined. Besides, giving Lissa peace of mind was the most important thing at the moment so Anders decided that he should at least try to rest.

The severity of Frederick's expression lessened and he nodded his approval so Anders unlatched two of the bedrolls from horse's pack and started to walk away. Before he got a more than a couple feet, Anders halted and went back for a third. At Frederick's questioning gaze, Anders gestured towards Virion and started walking towards the archer. Upon reaching the man he set the bedroll on the ground, unfurled it, and lightly tapped Virion on the shoulder. The sleeping man immediately sat up wide awake which surprised Anders; Virion hadn't struck him as someone would be a particularly alert sleeper.

When he saw the bedroll next to him, the archer inclined his head. "My thanks." With that he ungracefully scooted on top of the bedroll and lay back down. Anders picked the other two back up and walked over to Lissa, who had finished healing Sully's horse. Despite being finished, it looked like the cleric hadn't moved since he had left her other than dropping her staff to the ground.

"I got a couple of the bedrolls from Frederick. Why don't you try to get some more sleep and I'll do the same?" As he spoke up, Lissa slowly turned towards Anders and he thought that her eyes looked puffy, but couldn't tell for sure in the moonlight. Her only reply was a softly spoken thanks, so Anders set down a bedroll and moved a short distance away before dropping his own and unfurled it. After a second of hesitation he set down Robin's cloak to use as a pillow. It felt a little odd to do so now that he was aware of its magical properties, but figured it probably wouldn't hurt anything since he'd already done so once today. He sighed before lying down on bedroll; despite knowing that it was the right decision, he wasn't looking forward to waiting several hours with only his thoughts to keep him company. Everyone except Frederick was either asleep or hopefully would be soon and the knight had already shown himself to be an uninspired conversationalist.

As he lay there, Anders once again tried to process the events of the day. He had woken up this morning with nothing but a cloak that caused someone else to take his place until she, in turn, took the item off. The thing that truly puzzled him was that when he woke up, he didn't have any sort of survival gear or weapons other than the sword and tome that Robin had in her cloak. Why would he have been in the middle of the countryside with no gear or skills to survive out there? He had been fairly close to a town, but as far as he was aware, neither himself nor Robin had any money for food or lodging.

Their shared amnesia was also puzzling, but he decided it wasn't much of a stretch to assume that whatever magic had bound them together had also induced the condition. Rather, the important part was that how it had become apparent during the battle that they might have lost knowledge in addition to their memories. Most notable was that Robin had forgotten that she needed to pull magical power from her tome rather than supplying all of it by herself. The other issue was her minor blunder that had almost made Frederick miss a killing blow on one of those creatures. If a regular mage had made the same mistake, Anders wouldn't have thought much of it, but he assumed that a tactician would be more aware of the battle as a whole to make a mistake like that.

He ruefully had to admit to himself that even with those small issues, Robin was significantly more useful in combat than he would have been. The one hope he had in that regard was that he had felt an odd familiarity when he had seen Virion's weapon. Perhaps he was trained with a bow? He would have to ask the archer if he could borrow it at some point so that he could find out one way or the other. Speaking of their new companions, Anders wasn't looking forward to explaining their situation and hoped that Chrom or Lissa would be willing to do that for them.

Thinking about Sully and Virion made him turn his thoughts towards the last participant in the night's battles. The mysterious swordsman had come from the same giant floating eye as the creatures, but he had saved Robin instead of attacking the group like the creatures had. There were other things that were unusual about Marth that he'd noticed from Robin's memories. While Anders knew that he was certainly not an expert, there was something that struck him as odd about the man's fighting style. And his sword...

Anders' meandering thoughts ended as he dozed off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

**A/N: I don't have much to say about this chapter, so just once again thank you to my beta reader Robert for helping me improve the chapter from the original draft. Also, thank you to everyone on Discord for being awesome and being a great inspiration.**


	4. Sheep

_"Those protections included strengthening the base enchantment so that you would find it easier to act in concert. It was vital that you worked together, especially since I freely admit that I did not always trust your other allies."_

* * *

Suddenly wide awake, Anders jolted upright from his bedroll and looked around their new campsite to get his bearings. He saw that Frederick was tending to a new campfire in the clearing and the knight turned towards him with a raised eyebrow at the sudden movement. Seeing that everything seemed peaceful, Anders shrugged in response, unable to explain why he had awoken so suddenly. After a few seconds Frederick turned back to his fire once he was satisfied that nothing was amiss. The amnesiac still didn't feel like trying to start up a conversation with Frederick after his last attempt so he decided to stay where he was and wait for morning to come. Thankfully, it didn't look like he would have to wait long since the edge of the horizon was starting to turn dark blue from the black of night.

Anders wished he had something to distract himself with while waiting and briefly considering looking through Robin's cloak to see if she had a novel or something else that he could use to occupy the time. Ultimately, he decided that it would be an invasion of her personal space to start rifling through her things. The two already had next to no privacy as it was and he had no wish to further intrude. That said, Anders mused that it was doubtful that even Robin knew what all was contained in the cloak's inner pockets. The only one that she had accessed so far was the one that contained her Thunder tome so there could be any number of things in the other pouches.

Still needing something to pass the time, Anders stood up and started doing some stretches to loosen up. They would be continuing their journey to the capital today and after last night's encounter it was likely that they would be pushed even harder on today's march. Frederick once again glanced over when Anders stood up, but this time the knight had a slight look of approval when he saw what the amnesiac was doing.

It didn't take long for Anders to get bored of stretching and decide to simply watch the sunrise through the trees as the rest of the group gradually roused themselves. Sully was the first to wake and immediately went to check on her injured mount. Anders gave a quick greeting, but the cavalier only grunted at him as she passed. Her non-response left him wondering if she wasn't sure what to make of him or if she just wasn't a morning person. Upon reaching Cain, Sully started checking the horse's wound, looking pleased with the results of Lissa's healing session.

Chrom was the next to start to stir so Anders went over to his side after giving him a minute to finish waking up on his own. "Morning Chrom, how's the leg?"

The swordsman stifled a yawn as he answered, "Morning. It feels a lot better than last night, but I haven't walked on it yet so we'll see. Either way, Lissa really did a great job."

"That's good to hear. I've been looking forward to seeing more of Ylisse and I can't do that if you're stuck here!" Anders' grin faded as he continued, "Actually though, speaking of Lissa, you might want to talk to her. She seemed pretty down last night after you went to sleep."

Chrom shook his head and frowned, "I can't blame her. This was supposed to be an easy patrol and not only did we end up fighting more bandits than expected, but also monsters in the middle of the night. Thank you for checking up on her, I appreciate it."

"No problem at all. It's not like I participated in the fight with the rest of you, so any help afterwards was the least I could do."

Chrom's frown deepened somewhat at the comment. "You did sleep through right? I hope you didn't stay up all night after taking a watch before that madness started."

Anders decided that it wasn't a good idea to tell Chrom that he hadn't had any intention of sleeping so instead said, "Don't worry, I went to sleep after Frederick came back with the supplies from camp. Actually, I should go get that packed up…" Before Chrom could reply, Anders turned around and returned to the spot where he'd slept. As he walked away, he could hear Frederick inform Chrom that Anders had barely slept for two hours, causing the blue-haired man to groan in exasperation and Anders to walk a little faster before Chrom could chastise him.

Within a half hour everyone had awoken and the group was finishing up their preparations for leaving. Everyone was ready to go except for Sully, who was still taking care of Cain, and Anders, who was gathering up the bedrolls when he heard raised voices. When he looked to see what was going on, he saw Lissa and Chrom having a heated discussion while Frederick listened passively. Virion was awkwardly standing nearby though he was clearly trying to stay out of the conversation. Anders walked over to the archer after dropping the bedrolls in the middle of the clearing. "What's going on?"

Virion jumped slightly at Anders' voice then quickly gathered himself and replied with a weak smile, "Ah. I was just speaking with your captain who extended me an invitation to join your band, which I most graciously accepted. Your cleric had issues with his plans for the day which prompted the argument you see."

"Plans… like asking you to join the Shepherds?" Anders asked hesitantly. He wouldn't have expected Lissa to hold a grudge against Virion over his comments the previous night, but supposed that it was possible.

The archer softly chuckled and clarified, "Thankfully no. She simply wants him to put as little strain on his leg as possible after last night's events. Her suggestion was for him to ride while the rest of us walked, but he seems to be quite stubborn about it."

Anders scoffed at that, "And to think he was going to get on my case about not getting enough sleep. I'll see if I can help talk some sense into him." Without waiting for a reply from Virion, Anders walked over to the arguing siblings and caught what sounded like the tail end of Chrom's latest argument.

"-about Frederick? If I'm riding Jagen then he'll have to walk the whole way in his heavy armor!"

The knight frowned at the comment, "Milord knows full well that I would have no issues traveling twice the distance from here to the capital while unmounted."

"Alright fine," Chrom conceded before changing tracks. "What happens if we're attacked again? You both know I'm not the best at fighting from horseback."

"Then Lissa will help you dismount," Anders interjected, prompting a groan from Chrom and a triumphant grin from Lissa. "Besides, if we do get into another fight, what's more important? That your leg is in as good of shape as possible or the five seconds that it would take you to dismount?" Anders had no idea how long it took someone who wasn't Frederick to get on or off a horse so he hoped that measure of time hadn't been woefully inaccurate.

Thankfully Chrom didn't have the chance to argue any specifics because Lissa made her final argument with a slightly smug look. "Plus if you walk back to Ylisstol, the first thing I'll do when we get there is tell Emm that you ignored my orders while hurt!"

Chrom visibly paled at the threat then threw up his hands in exasperation, "Fine, you all win! I'll ride back to Ylisstol." While Chrom glumly made his way over to Frederick's horse, Anders realized that he didn't know the full structure of the Shepherds or even how many members there were. Maybe the Emm person that Lissa mentioned was their commander? After considering for a bit, he shrugged and decided that he'd probably find out later today. It sounded like the Shepherds were based in the capital so he'd likely get more information upon arriving.

Once Chrom had finished mounting Frederick's horse with the knight's help, Anders passed off the bedrolls to Frederick who then expertly lashed them to the saddle. Once that task was done, the Shepherds finally left the clearing and began making their way towards the capital. Whether it was because of the morning sun and short rest or just winning an argument with Chrom, Lissa seemed to be back to her cheerful self as they started their hike. "Hey Virion, I don't think we all actually introduced ourselves! I'm Lissa, my brother is Chrom, the stern one is Frederick, and the friendly guy is Anders!" As she talked she gestured to each of the men before continuing, "And last is Robin who you met last night. She's super smart!"

Virion glanced at Anders, who was quite pleased with Lissa's description of him, before slowly starting to speak. "Speaking of the fair lady… might I enquire as to her situation? We did not have a sufficient chance to discuss after the fight."

Sully grunted in agreement, "Ruffles is right, what's the deal?"

Anders looked hopefully at Chrom and Lissa, but neither seemed inclined to answer for him so he reluctantly explained. "We're not completely sure. These three found me on a hill yesterday near Southtown without any memories. When I put on this cloak I... swap places with Robin and when she takes it off, I come back. There's some other stuff, like how we remember what the other one does, but that's the gist of it." While Anders talked, he shook Robin's cloak slightly, but was careful not to let it unfold. Virion and Sully either hadn't seen or didn't recognize the eye symbols on the sleeves the previous night, and Anders wanted to keep the symbols out of sight if it was the former.

"You've got no memories, but you remember what she does? What does _that _mean?"

Anders smiled wanly at the cavalier's question, "It means what I said. I've got total amnesia from before I met the others and I think Robin does too, unless something came back to her. We get vivid memories of what the other does though, so even though I wasn't there for the fight, I can remember everything that happened." Anders paused, talking about the battle had reminded him of his thoughts right before he had drifted off to sleep. "Speaking of last night, do any of you know what was up with Marth? He came out of that portal after those creatures, but then he saved Robin from them and acted weird around her."

"He likely recognized the Grimleal cloak." Frederick supplied from his position several feet away from the rest of the group, "I would expect someone who uses the Hero King's name to be able to identify such an item." Anders was barely able to hold in an annoyed groan at the knight's reveal and quickly glanced at the others to try to gauge their reactions. Chrom was covering his face with his hand from atop Frederick's horse, so it seemed that he hadn't wanted that information to be casually mentioned to the others either. Virion looked somewhat concerned, but Sully's expression was somewhere between surprise and outrage.

Before the cavalier could say anything, Anders loudly interjected. "You guys still haven't even told me what a Grimleal is! Actually, why don't you talk to Robin? It's her cloak anyway!" He immediately stopped in his tracks and started unfurling the cloak while the rest of the group gave him various looks of surprise and concern at his outburst. Anders pointedly ignored their reactions and threw on the cloak, revealing Robin after the flash of light.

Robin sighed after she had sifted through Anders' recent memories and muttered "Thanks for throwing me under the cart…" Seeing that everyone was still staring at her, she continued at a normal volume, "He's got a point. This is the third time Frederick has mentioned Grimleal or the symbols on the cloak, but neither of us know what they are." To accentuate her point, she crossed her arms and looked at the others sternly.

Chrom hadn't halted Frederick's horse when Anders had stopped, so the swordsman was still slowly moving away from Robin and the rest of the group. Grunting slightly, he strained in the saddle to turn around and look back at the tactician. "We can talk about it now, but can you please keep walking? I can't stop this thing!" The swordsman's exclamation immediately shattered any tension in the group as Lissa and Sully broke out laughing and even Frederick gave a small smile. Robin grinned and jogged so that she was walking alongside of Chrom before looking up at him expectantly.

"So you know how I mentioned that the bandits from before were from Plegia?" When Robin nodded he continued, "The main religion in Plegia is the Grimleal and their insignia has the six eyes that are on the sleeves of your cloak, which is how we recognized it. The Grimleal are worshipers of the fell dragon Grima, whose goal was to destroy all life."

Robin interrupted incredulously before Chrom could continue, "Wait, they worship something that wants to kill everything?!"

Sully snorted in derision, "Who knows? They're all a bunch of damn crazies."

Chrom hesitantly nodded in agreement, "I can't fathom it either, but it's unfortunately the truth. Grima was opposed by the divine dragon Naga, who's the patron of Ylisse. With Naga's aid, the halidom's first Exalt and his allies were able to kill Grima millennia ago, but that hasn't stopped the Grimleal from worshiping him."

"Has no one thought to inform them that their dear god has already been slain?"

"Can it Ruffles, I already said they're crazy. Anyway, the big deal is that Ylisse got into a holy war with Plegia back when we were kids so they're still dangerous even without Grima." Sully stared at Robin thoughtfully for a few seconds and added, "You and Anders seem alright though, even if the 'swapping' thing is weird as hell."

Robin smiled, "Thanks, I think? And no arguments here about it being weird…" She turned back to Chrom and gratefully added, "And thank you for the information, I certainly understand the situation better now."

"It's no problem and I apologize for not telling either of you sooner. I should have talked to you about this right away."

Lissa looked between Robin and her brother asking, "So everyone is good now?" When Robin gave the cleric a quick affirmation, Lissa started happily humming while the group continued their path to the capital.

* * *

Robin was glad to have a chance to observe the Ylissean countryside while they walked, since so far all she had seen of the halidom was a small part of Southtown and the forest they had camped in. The terrain that they were moving through today was mostly rolling grassland that was broken up by small hills, trees, and wildflowers. She didn't see much evidence of animal life apart from small birds that occasionally flew past them and a single larger one that was wheeling far above them in the sky. The road that they were traveling on was a simple dirt road that had clearly seen a lot of use, so she reasoned that movement between the capital and Southtown must be fairly common. Despite her interest in the surroundings, after an hour of travel Robin was starting to tire and wearily asked, "How much… farther is it?"

While Lissa and Chrom looked at her with concern, Sully just snorted. "What, a little walk wearing you out?"

Lissa immediately put her hands on her hips and stared daggers at the cavalier. "Sully! I think there's something wrong with Robin's energy and she gets tired easily, so don't pick on her!" When Sully put up her hands in mock surrender, Lissa huffed before answering Robin's question in a much calmer tone. "It's at least another hour… Maybe switch with Anders so that you're not exhausted when we reach Ylisstol?"

"Will do… see you all later…" Robin stopped walking before she started to slip off the cloak; it would be rude to take it off mid-stride and make Anders trip when he swapped back in. After the flash of blue light, Anders stood in her place and was still wearing the annoyed expression he had an hour ago. When he had finished viewing Robin's memories, his expression immediately turned apologetic and he hurried to catch up with the rest of the group.

"Sorry about that everyone…" When he received a confused expression from Chrom in response Anders explained. "I freaked out and didn't even give you a chance to explain before I hid behind Robin. I guess I'm not used to all _this_." Anders vaguely waved his hands around as he spoke, but it seemed that the others understood.

"No need to apologize, I know this is hard on both of you." Chrom said kindly, "You've done well for someone with no apparent training and Robin has been a great help even with her stamina."

"Oh, that reminds me," Anders said excitedly. "I think I might know how to use a bow! It's the only weapon I've seen so far that's seemed familiar so there's at least a chance. Virion, when we get to the city can I borrow your bow and maybe get some pointers?"

The archer smiled slightly at the prospect of gaining a pupil, "I would gladly have you enter under my tutelage. It's my duty as the archest of archers to share my knowledge and vast skills." His grin faltered somewhat as he glanced at his bow, "That said, perhaps we should find you your own weapon rather than sharing one?"

Chrom laughed heartily at that and assured them that there would be plenty of practice bows at the barracks for their use. The rest of the journey was fairly quiet until Lissa exclaimed that she could see the city and increased her pace. While Frederick called out to her to not get too far ahead, Anders strained his newly improved vision and was barely able to see a thin white tower in the distance. His excitement got the better of him so he hurried after the cleric and soon the two of them had pulled ahead of the rest of the group.

Having seen that Anders was following from out of the corner of her eye, Lissa glanced at him while she continued to walk with a large smile on her face. "We're almost home! I can't wait to sleep in a real bed and eat real food! You'll love Ylisstol, it's so beautiful and you'll get to meet the rest of the Shepherds!"

Anders returned her infectious smile and the pair continued their pace towards the city. A sudden breeze picked up and Anders gave a contented sigh as the wind ruffled through his hair. The day's hike hadn't been difficult, but he was glad that they were almost at their destination. After a few minutes he glanced behind and noticed that they had pulled a decent distance away from the rest of the Shepherds, but they were still easily within shouting distance if necessary. He could see that Chrom had an agitated look on his face as he futility shook the horse's reins and Sully was bent over laughing.

Anders started to laugh at the sight as well and explained when Lissa gave him a questioning look. "I think your brother tried to follow us, but Frederick's horse wouldn't go any faster."

Lissa giggled, "Yeah, I think Frederick's horse is as loyal to his rider as Frederick is to Chrom. He probably won't leave Frederick's side until he's told to." She leaned towards Anders and continued conspiratorially, "It doesn't help that Chrom has about as much control riding a horse as a frog does when it's on a turtle!"

Anders chuckled at the odd metaphor and returned to looking at the city that they were quickly closing in on. The only reference for comparison that he had was Southtown and the village was completely dwarfed in size by the capital. The large city was surrounded by white walls that had to be at least twenty-five feet tall and when the pair crested a hill Anders could make out an inner wall of equal height. The tower that he had noticed earlier was the spire of a large building at the center of the city.

"Wow... It's huge!" Anders said while looking at the massive city in awe.

Lissa smiled at his exclamation and simply replied, "It's home."

Suddenly a thought came to Anders and he started to unfurl Robin's cape. When Lissa noticed she frantically looked around to see if there was any danger, but turned back to Anders with a small pout when she didn't see anything. "Don't you wanted to see Ylisstol?!"

"Of course I do, but I think Robin should get to first. I still feel bad about before and I got to see more of the countryside than her. Besides, I'll have plenty of chances to explore."

"Fiiiine, but you better let me know when you do! I can show you all the best spots!" Once he had assured the cleric that he would, Anders slipped on the cloak causing the now familiar flash of white light. Unfortunately, he had neglected to stop walking when he put on the clothing and as the light faded Lissa heard a cry of alarm and found Robin lying face down on the ground. The cleric quickly knelt at Robin's side to check to see if she was alright.

As Robin pushed herself up, she annoyedly spoke while sifting through memories. "Come on! I was careful so that this wouldn't happen to him… He might be making up for forcing me into that conversation before, but now he owes me for making me trip." When she saw that Robin was uninjured, Lissa's concern melted into mirth and she started giggling at the blunder and the tactician's small rant. When Robin glared at her, the giggling only increased and Robin sighed. "Let's wait for the others, okay? No sense in not all going in together."

That was enough to get Lissa to stop and she started to once again pout instead. "I guess… You're not as fun as Anders!" Lissa playfully accused, but when Robin didn't rise to the bait Lissa gave up on trying to tease Robin and impatiently waited for the others. They didn't have to wait long since Frederick had increased the stragglers' pace to catch up with his charge and within a couple of minutes the full group was reunited. None of the others asked for an explanation for why Anders had switched out, so the Shepherds continued towards the city's gates in silence apart from the excited noises that Lissa was making.

When they reached the gates, Robin expected some sort of challenge from the two guards outside of the walls, but the pair didn't have any reaction to the Shepherds other than standing up a little straighter as they passed through the entrance into the city. Robin thought it was odd that the guards hadn't made any comment and was ultimately glad that they hadn't. She'd already had enough conversations about her clothing for one day, especially now that she knew what the Grimleal cloak represented. Robin wondered if the Shepherds were more influential in the capital than she had thought or if Ylisstol was just that welcoming of a city to strangers.

After they had walked beneath the entrance's second portcullis, the entryway opened into a large courtyard that had a small fountain in the center. Around the area people were calmly walking around and going about their lives, blissfully unaware of the events that had occurred the previous night. Looking ahead into the city proper, Robin could see a large congregation of people down one of the streets but even that large gathering seemed to be in high spirits. As she continued to gaze around the city in awe she muttered, "So this is Ylisstol, capital of Ylisse... I've never seen so many people!"

The four city natives had all visibly relaxed when they saw the peaceful state of the capital and Chrom breathed a sigh of relief. "It appears the capital was spared the chaos we encountered, thank the gods." Frederick said gratefully, "I see no evidence of the great quake. It must've been limited to the forest."

Lissa looked around and was also satisfied that nothing was out of place in her beloved city. "Well, that's a relief!"

"Damn right it is." Sully commented, "Hey captain, if you're good to walk the rest of the way, I'll take the horses to the barracks to get them some rest. They've had as hard of a time as we have."

"Good thinking," Chrom said as he started to dismount Frederick's horse. It didn't seem like getting off of a horse would be terribly difficult, but Chrom ended up needing assistance from the knight, much to the swordsman's chagrin. After Frederick softly spoke to his horse, he passed the reins to Sully and the horse moved to stand alongside of Cain. Now that he was safely on the ground Chrom stretched his legs appreciatively and continued, "Gather up all the Shepherds when you're finished. We'll head there shortly and I've got a feeling we'll want to get all the introductions done at once."

Sully barked a laugh when Robin vigorously nodded her head in agreement, then the cavalier started to walk away with the horses trailing her. "Sure thing. C'mon Ruffles, you get to help me out." Virion looked like he was about to protest but thought better of it and instead followed Sully down one of the less crowded streets towards the city's center. Chrom immediately started walking up the road with the large crowd with the remaining three Shepherds behind him.

When they reached the edge of the gathering, Robin was finally able to hear what the assembled citizens were saying and saw what had grabbed their attention once she walked ahead of the other Shepherds. The crowd had gathered around a woman with long blonde hair who was wearing flowing white and green robes and she was slowly walking up the street towards the center of the city as the crowd moved around her. Despite being surrounded by such a large group, the woman looked completely peaceful and was smiling radiantly while waving to the crowd. All of the onlookers were cheerful and Robin could hear various voices call out things such as 'Lady Exalt,' 'Your Grace,' and 'Milady' as the woman passed by them.

Robin continued watching the woman walk through the crowd while she strained to get a better look. Without turning back to face the Shepherds she asked, "The Exalt is your ruler, yes?"

"Yes. Her name is Lady Emmeryn," Frederick confirmed.

"Is it safe for her to walk among commoners like this?" Robin couldn't help but worry for the woman's safety as she continued to watch. The name seemed oddly familiar, but she pushed that aside as her mind raced with different scenarios of all the ill that could come from having the leader of the halidom be unprotected in the open like this. There was a woman who was near the Exalt wearing military garb, but one guard was hardly a sufficient deterrent.

"The Exalt is a symbol of peace, Ylisse's most prized quality." Frederick explained, "Long ago, at the dawn of our age, the fell dragon tried to destroy the world, as milord told you. But the first Exalt joined forces with the divine dragon and laid the beast low. Exalt Emmeryn reminds us all of the peace we fought and sacrificed for then."

Chrom added, "With Plegia poking at our borders, the people need her. She's a calming presence, when some might otherwise call for war."

Robin smiled at the idea, even if it was a slightly too idealistic for her tastes. It seemed to her that the ruler should at least have a full company of guards around her, even if she was trying to promote peace. However, Robin found that she couldn't argue with the results when she looked at the citizens surrounding the Exalt. "Then the Ylissean people are indeed lucky to have her."

"She's also the best big sister anyone could ask for!" Lissa added.

"Yes, I imagine she..." It suddenly dawned on Robin what exactly the cleric had said and she spun on her heels to face the trio. "Wait, what? She's your... But wouldn't that make you and Chrom…"

Lissa burst out laughing at Robin's shocked expression and Chrom likewise started laughing heartily. Frederick maintained his stony gaze, though Robin thought she could see a hint of a smile. Seeing that neither of them were going to be answering soon, he replied on the siblings' behalf, "The prince and princess of the realm, yes."

"You said you were Shepherds! I thought it was just a cute name for the local militia!"

Chrom replied with a large grin, "And so we are… in a manner of speaking. We just have a _lot_ of sheep."

Robin's shock quickly turned to horror as she remembered everything that she or Anders had said to the royals and she quickly started to stammer an apology. "C-Chrom... I mean, Prince Chrom! Sire! Forgive my dreadful manners!"

"Just Chrom is fine. I've never been much for formalities," Chrom answered, still clearly amused by her reaction.

Robin relaxed slightly at Chrom's assurance and several things that had occurred over the last day suddenly made sense. She returned Chrom's grin as one of the smaller oddities clicked into place. "The prince and princess... I suppose that explains why Frederick tolerates all the teasing."

"Indeed. Oh, the sacrifices I make for the good of the realm," Frederick deadpanned.

Chrom had continued to watch the crowd that Robin had turned away from and he gestured up the street. "It looks like Emm is returning to the palace. Would you like to meet her?"

Robin's eyes grew wide at the suggestion and quietly responded, "Yes please." Despite her positive statement she found that she was unable to continue moving up the street other than to turn around to face the palace again. Robin could see that what Chrom had said was true; the crowd had mostly dispersed and the Exalt was once again barely visible in the distance.

Still smiling, Chrom put one hand on the tactician's shoulder and gently nudged her forward. "Come on then, it's a short walk from here." Emboldened at Chrom's urging, Robin was once again able to move and the four Shepherds continued their way deeper into the city. When they reached the inner walls that Anders had spotted earlier, they were once again allowed through without any comments from the guards and this time Robin had no doubts as to the reason. The primary structure within the inner wall was a large white palace, but there were also several smaller buildings scattered around the expansive gardens that took up much of the area within the inner wall.

Robin paused on the other side of the gates and gazed around at both the building and the gardens as her eyes greedily tried to take in everything. She recognized several flowers that she had seen earlier in the day along with plenty that she didn't recognize. Everything appeared to be meticulously cared for and she could see several people walking through the gardens and examining the greenery. "It's beautiful!"

"Told you that you'd love the city! Well, I guess I told Anders, but whatever… Let's go see Emm!" Lissa grabbed Robin's arm and practically dragged the tactician through the front entrance of the palace while Chrom and Frederick followed close behind. The entryway of the palace was a large room with several pieces of art adorning the walls, but Robin didn't get a chance to closely examine any of them as Lissa pulled her along. From what she did see of the paintings, they mostly depicted natural scenes such as a winged horse, grasslands, or a single massive tree. "C'mon!" Lissa said as she continued yanking on Robin's arm, "She must have just gotten back so I bet she's in her rooms."

Robin was mortified at the idea of meeting the country's ruler in her own quarters, but there was no deterring the cleric. The group went through several hallways lead by Lissa and Robin had just realized that she had completely lost her sense of direction when Lissa halted in front of an ornate door. "Emmmm, are you there? We're back!"

There was no reply from the other side for several seconds and then the door suddenly swung open to reveal the Exalt with a warm smile on her face. "Lissa! Chrom! Welcome home. Oh, and good day, Frederick. How fared you all?" Seeing Robin, the Exalt gave the tactician a curious look before she continued, "Do come in, you all must be tired."

Lissa finally let go of Robin's arm and rushed through the doorway to give her elder sister a hug as the woman stepped out of the room's threshold. Chrom immediately followed Lissa and walked in the room after likewise giving Emmeryn a quick embrace. "Thanks Emm, it's good to see you. Regarding our trip... Well, we shouldn't have any bandit problems for a while."

Robin peered inside and was grateful to see that there were several chairs scattered around a large table that stood in the center of the well-furnished room. Meeting the Exalt in her private audience chambers was infinitely preferable to meeting in her bedroom as Robin had thought they were going to. Relieved, the tactician moved inside with Frederick only a step behind. Once she entered the chambers, Robin could see that there were several other rooms attached to this one, including a study and a small library. The guard that had been with Emmeryn in the city was also in the main room and she was staring at Robin with an appraising look. Now that Robin was clearly able to see the guard, she saw that woman was wearing light armor and had a lance resting at her side. Though she made no objection to Robin's presence, the guard was giving her a suspicious look that was reminiscent of the ones that she and Anders had received from Frederick since they had met.

The Exalt had finally been released from Lissa's hug and gestured for everyone to sit as she settled into one of the chairs. "Wonderful. And our people?" While Robin and the royal siblings sat down in the nearest chairs, Frederick and the guard remained standing where they were. The two shared a courteous nod before returning their full attention to their charges.

"Safe as they can be, Emm. But we still need to watch the borders. The brigands crossed over from Plegia."

At Chrom's statement, the silver-haired guard stiffened slightly and spoke, "Forgive me, milord. My pegasus knights should have intercepted them."

The prince quickly waved off her apology, "No, Phila. Your duty was here with the Exalt."

"And besides, we had plenty of help!" Lissa chimed in.

Emmeryn turned away from her siblings and looked at Robin with her curious expression reemerging. "Ah, you speak of your new companion here?"

"This is Robin. She fought bravely with us against the brigands. I've decided to make her a Shepherd."

The Exalt's warm smile returned as she inclined her head towards Robin gratefully, "It sounds as though Ylisse owes you a debt of gratitude, Robin."

"N-not at all, milady!" Robin said, barely able to stammer out a reply while she internally cursed herself. She had been able to act mostly fine around Chrom and Lissa even after she'd learned their identities, so why was she so nervous around their sister?

While Robin was still trying to puzzle that out, Frederick cleared his throat and interjected, "Forgive me, Your Grace, but I must speak. Both Robin and Anders claim to have lost their memories, but it is only that: a claim. We cannot rule out the possibility that they are allied with the brigands or even acting as a Plegian spy."

Chrom spun in his chair towards the knight and admonished him with irate "Frederick!" At the same time, Lissa loudly groaned in exasperation and Robin shrunk into her chair and tried to make herself as small as possible. Her nerves had been bad enough without Frederick's comment, but now she had essentially been accused of being a spy and would also have to tell the Exalt about her situation. She wondered if perhaps she'd subconsciously seen this coming and that's why she'd already been so nervous?

The Exalt softly smiled at her siblings' reactions and asked, "Anders? Did he also aid you against the brigands?"

Chrom replied while glaring at Frederick, "In a manner of speaking… it's hard to explain." He paused and then turned his gaze towards Robin before continuing to speak. "Robin and Anders are magically joined through the cloak that Robin is currently wearing. When she takes it off, Anders appears and when he puts it on, she does… It's probably easiest to just show you. Robin, would you mind?"

Before Emmeryn could do anything beyond put on a puzzled expression, Robin quickly stood up and gave her a frantic bow. "I-it was nice to meet Your Grace." Without waiting for a reply, Robin shrugged off the cloak and the room filled with bright blue light.

Anders glanced around at his new surroundings as Robin's memories rushed through his head. In the few seconds that he was processing them, he was dimly aware that the woman sitting near him had gasped and put a hand over her mouth in surprise. The woman who was still standing at the edge of the room had opened her mouth and was openly gaping at his sudden appearance. Anders largely ignored both of their reactions and instead looked at looked at Frederick while frowning slightly.

"Really Frederick? I thought we were getting along," Anders half-heartedly joked. The knight's response was a raised eyebrow and a nod towards the woman still seated near Anders. Realization dawned on the amnesiac and he hastily bowed deeply to the Exalt. "Please forgive me, uh, milady… I didn't mean to be rude. Swapping is… disorienting."

Though Anders didn't look up, he could hear the mirth in Chrom's voice as the prince introduced him. "Emm, meet Anders, our other newest Shepherd. And to address Frederick's concerns, both Anders and Robin have risked their lives for our people. That's good enough for me."

Anders slowly looked up and was surprised to see that the Exalt's expression had already returned to a serene smile. "Please don't worry, and it's good to meet you as well Anders. It seems you've earned Chrom's faith and as such you have mine as well."

"Thank you milady." Anders replied while trying to think of what Chrom had meant by his statement. The only dangerous thing that he could recall doing was running away from a forest fire, which was hardly worthy of praise. As he pondered this, he grabbed Robin's cloak off the floor and began folding it rather than sitting back down in Robin's chair.

Emmeryn turned towards Frederick and continued, "But thank you, Frederick, for your prudence, especially in a case as… unusual as this one. Chrom and Lissa are blessed to have so tireless a guardian. I do hope they remember to mention that from time to time."

"They occasionally express something akin to gratitude, Your Grace." Frederick said with a small incline of his head. The knight then turned towards the other woman and added, "Phila, I assume you've heard about the deathly creatures we encountered?"

The woman finally shook herself back to her senses at her name and smartly responded. "Yes, they've been sighted all across Ylisse."

Frowning at the thought of the creatures, Emmeryn spoke. "Chrom, we are about to hold council on this matter. I was hoping you could join us."

Chrom nodded with a grim expression, "Of course."

Lissa shot out of her chair at the mention of a council and moved back towards the door without any hesitation. "I think that's our cue, Anders! C'mon, there's a place I want to show you. Bye Emm!" The Exalt softly laughed at her sister's reaction and wished her and Anders goodbye when he followed the cleric out of the room after giving the Exalt another hasty bow.

* * *

**A/N: So as you might have noticed, not a lot happened in this chapter. It was originally going to be a single chapter along with chapter 5, but they just became too long for me to manage as a single chapter. In fact, the first draft of 5 is already longer than this one ended up being and my chapters tend to grow quite a bit in editing.**

**As always, a huge thank you to Robert for his help with editing.**


	5. And Shepherds

_"Despite my reservations, I knew that they would be needed for the trials ahead. I did my best to help build the bonds of trust between you so that past events would not be repeated."_

* * *

As soon as Anders stepped into the palace hallway behind Lissa, the cleric took off in the direction that the Shepherds had just come from and she sighed in relief. Smiling impishly at Anders, she exclaimed, "Glad we got out of there! I told Chrom that I wanted to do more princessy things, but I don't want to start by going to boring council meetings." To emphasize her point, Lissa made an exaggerated choking noise and stuck out her tongue.

Anders chuckled as they continued through the hallways, "Is that why you went on the patrol?" As they walked, he realized that he could tell that they were taking the same route out of the palace that had been used to enter, despite the twists and turns. It seemed he was able to take advantage of Robin's memories even when he wasn't actively examining them.

"Yeah kinda... I officially joined the Shepherds a while ago, but I haven't done much other than stay in the barracks with everyone else and heal training injuries."

"You and Chrom stay in the barracks? That seems odd for the royal family to do."

Lissa shrugged, "Not always, but we do most of the time. We _are_ a little odd I guess, but in a way it's for Ylisse. Just like Emm visits the people in the city, Chrom goes out and visits them in the country with the Shepherds."

Anders considered that for a moment and nodded, "I suppose that makes sense. I'm guessing that's part of why Southtown was so willing to throw you guys a feast."

"Don't remind me…" Lissa said forlornly before perking back up after a second. "No wait, keep reminding me until Frederick throws me a feast as an apology!"

Anders chuckled, "I've got a feeling you'll be waiting a while for that."

The pair continued to chat while they exited the palace and Lissa led Anders back out through the inner gate. After they passed through the gate, she took a sharp right so they were following the city's inner wall and were heading towards some buildings that were nestled right up against the wall.

"Is that the Shepherds' barracks?" Anders asked and gestured towards the structures ahead of them.

"Not just the barracks, we Shepherds have our own training ground, stables, and mess hall! The training ground is right in the middle so I bet that's where Sully brought everyone. I'll show you around after introductions!"

Anders could see a grassy clearing ahead with several people milling about which he figured confirmed Lissa's suspicions. Someone must have noticed their arrival as there was suddenly a flurry of movement and others came into sight as Anders and Lissa reached the edge of the clearing. His eyes quickly darted between the assembled Shepherds, eager to see who his new comrades were. Sully and Virion were the first ones that he noticed since Sully was simultaneously trying to shepherd the Shepherds and push Virion away from her.

With regards to the others, he could see that there was a man with olive colored hair wearing similar armor to Sully's, though his was green instead of red. Next to him was a shirtless man with bulging muscles and medium length blond hair who appeared to be belching. Looking on in disgust was a woman with blonde hair wearing fancy clothes and holding a parasol that seemed quite out of place on the training yard. Next to her was another woman with long brown hair who was wearing light armor and straining to look at Anders and Lissa with an expectant expression. The next two Shepherds were both wearing robes and large hats, and they were conversing with each other while ignoring the commotion around them. The first was a woman with glasses and the other was a young man who appeared to be about Lissa's age. Finally, a man with short brown hair wearing a large suit of heavy plate armor was awkwardly standing several yards away from the others.

_Stahl. Vaike. Maribelle. Sumia. Miriel. Ricken. Kellam._

Anders almost tripped in surprise at the sudden voice in his head. His mind raced as he tried to place the oddly familiar woman's voice that had seemingly no source. After a second of concentration, he recalled that he had heard the voice before and was immediately able to place it. The voice had also been present when he had been woken up by Chrom and Lissa yesterday, but Anders had been too out of it at the time to process it. He was fairly certain that he hadn't heard it any other time, but decided that he would have to check with Robin to see if she reme-

His racing thoughts were suddenly cut off as Lissa lightly knocked on his head. "You okay?" The cleric concernedly asked, "You completely zoned out there!"

Anders quickly turned to her and then towards the Shepherds who were all giving him puzzled looked. "Ah yeah, sorry. Just got a little nervous, I guess…" It occurred to him that it probably wasn't the best idea to mention that he was hearing voices in his head to people he was meeting them for the first time, so he chose not to elaborate.

"Well alright…" Her concern pacified, Lissa looked back towards the assembled Shepherds. "Wow, you really did get everyone, Sully!"

"Well yeah," The cavalier answered with a shrug. "The captain said to gather everyone so-"

She was suddenly cut off as the woman with the parasol charged past the rest of the Shepherds and pulled Lissa into an embrace. "Lissa, my treasure! Are you all right? I've been on pins and needles!"

Lissa returned the hug for a second, but quickly switched to trying to disengage herself from the other woman. "Oh, hey, Maribelle!"

The cleric's response made Maribelle pull back and huff in frustration, "'Oh hey' yourself! I've sprouted 14 gray hairs fretting over you!"

Lissa smiled, "Aw, you worry too much. I can handle a battle or two! Although I could do without the bugs and the bear barbecue…"

Anders lightly coughed and put out his hand. "Maribelle, right? It's nice to meet you, I'm Anders." As he spoke he couldn't help continuing to wonder at the voice he had just heard. The voice had said a bunch of names at once and he was pretty sure that one of them had been Maribelle. Even though he couldn't think of a possible reason why he would be hearing a voice telling him people's names, Anders had to admit that it might be useful.

Maribelle glanced at Anders' extended hand, but instead of shaking it she turned up her nose and scoffed. "It is customary for a lady to extend her hand to a gentleman when they meet, and not to _shake_." She paused and her expression softened slightly, "However, Sully informed us that you have lost your memories so I suppose I can excuse you _this _time." While the severity of her expression had been dampened, it was clear from her tone that Anders would only be allowed this single breach of etiquette.

The rest Shepherds had realized that Lissa and Anders had been stopped by Maribelle and they were likewise approaching as Anders slowly withdrew his hand. "Oh. Thanks?" Before she could take the opportunity to further berate him, he turned towards the rest of the Shepherds. "Uh Sully, what all did you tell them about me?" As he spoke, Anders unsubtly shook Robin's cloak and looked hopefully at the cavalier. If Sully had already told the others about Robin, then this would go a lot smoother than he had expected.

"Just your memory issues," Sully replied with a grin. "We weren't sure who was going to show up first after all." Anders realized with exasperation that the cavalier was enjoying this and he could see that Virion had a hint of a smile as well. He figured that they either wanted to see the pair be embarrassed at the switch in front of such a large group, or to see the reactions of the rest of the Shepherds. Likely both.

That event was put off for now though since the Shepherd with long brown hair had misunderstood Sully's statement and asked, "Beg pardon, but when might we see the captain?"

Anders thought the voice had named her as Sumia, which was immediately confirmed by a comment from Maribelle. "Poor Sumia. She's simply been beside herself with concern. Her eyes were scanning the horizon all day during training. She might have earned fewer bruises fighting blindfolded."

"Aw, Sumia, that's so sweet of you to worry about Chrom." Lissa said, though Anders had difficulty telling if she was being genuine or teasing Sumia.

Sumia blushed at the cleric's statement and stammered, "W-worry? Well, I... He's our captain and our prince. Of course I'd worry!"

Before the conversation could go any further down this uncomfortable avenue, the man without a shirt chimed in. "So, who's the stranger? Sully didn't say much."

Lissa rolled her eyes at the comment and spoke up. "No one's stranger that you Vaike... But allow me to introduce Anders! He just joined the Shepherds." Anders waved awkwardly at the Shepherds, which earned him another scoff from Maribelle while Lissa jumped into introductions. "Vaike here uses an axe, but not armor. Maribelle is a troubadour so she can use staves like me, but she does it while mounted. Stahl is Sully's fellow cavalier, if you thought she fought well last night, you should see them work together! Miriel and Ricken are our mages, though Ricken is still in training. Lastly, Sumia is a pegasus knight so she'll be doing any fighting from the skies!" Lissa pointed to each Shepherds as she introduced them, but apparently her introductions were objectionable since the air immediately filled with complaints.

"Armor would just slow ol' Teach down! I don't need it!"

"Hey, I don't need anyone in a fight, I'm just fine on my own! ...Er no offense Stahl."

"Aww, c'mon Lissa! I'm almost as good as Miriel!"

"I'm not ready for a fight... I don't even have a pegasus…"

Anders was only half listening to the various complaints and instead gestured towards the forlorn looking armored man, who was still standing several yards away from everyone else, "Uh Lissa, I think you skipped someone." While the man had joined the rest of the Shepherds when they had walked over to Anders and Lissa, he had kept his distance and hadn't contributed anything so far. The voice had been right about everyone else, so Anders reasoned that the last Shepherd must be Kellam.

The armored man stood up straighter and his expression changed to surprise as he finally spoke up. "You can see me?"

While Anders tired to process the odd question, the rest of the Shepherds turned towards the armored man while squinting. After a couple of seconds, several of them turned back to Anders and exclaimed, "You can see Kellam?!"

Bewildered by the question, Anders slowly asked, "Am I… not supposed to be able to?"

Lissa spoke up, "But he's so stealthy! None of us can spot him most of the time, and that includes Frederick!"

Anders stared at the cleric incredulously and started to wonder if this was some sort of hazing ritual. "Stealthy? But he's just standing there… in the open… in a giant suit of armor…"

The cleric glanced down at her staff and muttered, "Maybe I healed his eyes too well?"

Everyone seemed to be at a loss for how to continue, until after a few seconds when Stahl spoke up for the first time, "So what's your specialty apart from your keen eyes? I don't see any weapons, so are you a mage?"

"I'm… actually not sure yet," Anders hesitantly replied. "I think I can use a bow but I'm not sure because of the whole memory thing. I haven't gotten a chance to practice yet and find out how good I am."

"Sully informed us that your expedition encountered previously unknown monsters and engaged them in combat." Miriel calmly stated, "Are we to infer that you utilized fisticuffs in the effort to rout the creatures?"

"Uh, no. I didn't punch them. I wasn't even technically there for that fight." Anders sighed and decided to just get this over with. "You guys will understand in a minute, just don't… you know, freak out?"

Many of the Shepherds started to murmur amongst themselves as to what Anders might mean. The notable exception was Vaike who loudly claimed, "The Vaike doesn't freak out!'"

While Anders started unfurling Robin's cloak, Sully smirked and leaned over to Virion, "Hey Ruffles, bet you three silver Vaike screams."

Virion returned her grin with a dazzling smile of his own and said, "I fear that it would give the wrong impression if I were to make such a wager considering that I have just met my new compatriots. I would hate to appear uncouth." While Sully snorted at the archer's reply, Anders gave the Shepherds another small wave before putting on the cloak to a flash of white light.

Robin groaned when she swapped into the sounds of several people crying out in surprise or cursing. There was also one person who was heartily laughing who she immediately identified as Sully without having to look. Robin decided that she was going to have to have a serious conversation with the royal siblings about these sudden swaps when they first meet people. She wasn't sure how Anders felt, but both coming and going was beyond uncomfortable for her.

While she waited for the Shepherds to at least partially calm down, she shifted through Anders' memories and put a name to each of their faces. Robin frowned slightly when she counted one less person than Anders had been introduced to. Despite the fact that she was looking in the exact spot that Kellam had been standing, she couldn't see the man. Was there something to his 'stealthiness' after all?

"And this is Robin!" Lissa announced, "Chrom's made her our new tactician. You should see all the tricks she's got up her sleeve!" As she spoke, Lissa pinched the left sleeve of Robin's cloak and lightly shook it while giggling.

Robin couldn't help but smile at the cleric's joke and addressed the Shepherds who were generally still staring at her in various states of shock. "It's good to meet you all, but I'm sure you have questions so I'll do my best to answer them." Vaike started to blurt something out, but stopped when he saw that Ricken, Miriel, and Sumia had all shot their hands up. Cowed by a glare from Maribelle, he reluctantly put his hand up while Robin continued, "To get the basics out of the way, it's not a transformation hex. Anders and I are different people and we switch places when we take this cloak on or off. Sumia?"

The pegasusless knight jumped slightly as Robin called her name and dropped her hand to her side. "Oh! Um… this isn't what I was going to ask, but how do you know my name?"

"Sorry, I suppose that's an important one as well. Whenever we swap in, we get a complete recollection of what the other person did, although it takes several seconds to sort through them. We're not aware of anything that's happening while we're swapped out so until I've gone through Anders' memories I'm completely lost when I swap in. Ricken?"

Robin could barely see the young mage as he stared at her in wonder from beneath his large hat and answered his question about her combat skills, saying that she favored a tome but could use a sword when necessary. Miriel's question involved magical jargon regarding the cloak that Robin didn't even know how to begin to answer, and from the glazed look on the rest of the Shepherds they appeared to be in the same boat. Robin had to frown and say that they didn't understand the technicalities of swapping. To her surprise, the response caused the mage's eyes to light up, instead of disappointing her as Robin had expected.

Robin finally called on Vaike, who seemed rather peeved on having to wait from the way he immediately blurted out his question. "What's up with that robe?! You Grimleal?!" Robin cringed at the accusation and decided that the man's annoyance had a different source than what she had assumed.

Thankfully, Lissa quickly came to her defense, "She lost her memories Vaike! How could she be Grimleal when she didn't even know what Grima was?"

Robin hastily added, "From what Chrom told me about the Grimleal, I don't want anything to do with them. I'd get rid of this cloak if I could." Her answer seemed to mollify Vaike as the man didn't press the issue any further. He muttered something to Stahl, which prompted the cavalier to lightly hit the axe-wielder on the back of the head, but Robin was too preoccupied with her thoughts to catch what had been said. She couldn't fathom why she _was_ attached to this particular cloak. Even if you ignored the insanity of a person's consciousness being tied to an article of clothing, why did it have to be something that bore symbols that were this horribly mistrusted in the halidom?

Her musings were interrupted when Sumia called out to someone behind Robin, then tripped after taking a single step forward. The nearby Shepherds quickly helped her up while the new arrival exclaimed with concern, "Sumia! Are you all right? Those boots of yours again?" The tactician turned to see that Chrom and Frederick had joined them without her noticing and were only several feet behind her. Despite having only left the pair a half hour ago, Chrom looked significantly more tired than when Robin had last seen him.

Sumia quickly thanked Ricken and Stahl for helping her up before dusting herself off and answering Chrom's question. "No! I mean, yes! I mean…" She trailed off with a sigh, prompting Chrom to give her an odd look before he addressed the Shepherds as a whole.

"Good, everyone is here. That will make things easier." Chrom said and nodded gratefully to Sully, "In the morning, we'll be marching to Regna Ferox."

"Regna Ferox?" Robin asked while mentally kicking herself. How could she expect to be the tactician of this militia when she didn't know anything about the region? It wouldn't have been much of an issue had the Shepherds been a local group as she had originally thought, but the potential scope of their missions had grown significantly when she learned that two of its members were royalty. Robin decided that her first priority would have to be learning more about the Halidom and its neighbors.

"A unified kingdom to Ylisse's north inhabited by barbarians. Or so it's said," Sumia nervously contributed.

"Warriors are what they are, and we'll need their strength to quell this new menace. Typically, the Exalt would request such aid in person. But given recent events... Well, the people might worry should my sister suddenly leave the capital." Chrom explained, "So the task has been passed to us. Now, this mission is strictly voluntary. So if, for any-"

All of the Shepherds, with the exception of Maribelle and Sumia, interrupted him in a clamor as they simultaneously volunteered for the mission. Once Chrom had gotten everyone to calm down, Maribelle explained that she needed to return to her father's estates so she wouldn't be able to join them. Sumia tried to excuse herself from coming by morosely claiming that she would just get in the way. After a short discussion, Chrom convinced her to come with by promising that she could stay in an observer role until she gained more confidence.

When no one else had any comments, Chrom dismissed the group after telling them to prepare to leave two hours after dawn tomorrow. As the Shepherds slowly started to disperse, his eyes narrowed slightly and he called out, "Hey Ricken? You're stil-" The prince suddenly grunted and when Robin looked, Lissa's elbow was firmly in her brother's side while the cleric smiled sweetly.

The young mage turned around when he heard his name and looked at the royal siblings apprehensively. "What… is it captain?"

Before Chrom could say anything, Lissa spoke up, "He's just glad you're going to be joining us on your _first_ mission." As she said 'first,' Lissa's directed a glare at Chrom, but it was quickly replaced by her smile once again.

Chrom returned his sister's brief glare before responding. "Uh, yes. Glad to have you." Ricken's face immediately lit back up and he scurried off to catch up with Miriel after thanking Chrom.

As soon as he was out of earshot, the royal siblings turned on each other and exclaimed at the same time, "What was that?!"

Chrom seemed taken aback that Lissa had said the same thing, so the cleric was able to continue uninterrupted. "Seriously Chrom, you were going to tell him that he couldn't come?"

"Of course I was," the prince argued hotly. "He's still too young and he's still in training!"

"He's only a couple months younger than me and this should be way less dangerous than the mission I just went on! You know, the one where we went _looking_ for bandits to fight?" Lissa huffed in frustration before continuing, "Besides, you just told Sumia that she should come with and then you weren't going to let Ricken-"

Chrom threw up his hands and interrupted her, "Okay, okay. You've made your point, he can come with... on one condition." To Robin's horror, he turned to look at her; the last thing she wanted to do was get in the middle of a sibling conflict. She glanced at Frederick for help, but the retainer was maintaining his normal stoney gaze. Ignorant of her apprehension, Chrom continued unabated, "Robin. I want you to promise me that your first priority during any combat engagements is keeping Lissa, Ricken, and Sumia safe."

"Milord!" Frederick protested, "What of yourself?"

"I can take care of myself on the battlefield and I have faith the rest of the Shepherds can as well. The three of them have almost no experience in full combat situations. If Maribelle was coming I would have included her as well." Lissa briefly looked as if she wanted to argue Chrom's point, but stayed silent.

Chrom was still looking at Robin expectantly so she managed to stammer a reply, "I-I won't let you down Chrom. I'll keep everyone safe." Chrom gave Robin a winning smile at her promise and she suddenly had a suspicion as to why Sumia had been so flustered earlier. She quickly pushed that thought aside and continued, "But I will need some materials to get me up to speed on Ylisse and her neighbors. I can't exactly be the prince's tactician on a diplomatic mission when I'm ignorant of the political climate." Chrom frowned, apparently not having foreseen this particular issue.

"I have already taken care of the matter," Frederick said. "Several maps and the latest missives about Regna Ferox will be delivered here within the hour for your use, along with several books on the history of Ylisse."

Robin quickly started thanking Frederick while Chrom clapped him on the back. "So that's what that message was that you sent during the council meeting was about."

"Indeed. I thought it prudent to make sure that our new tactician had access to all of the information possible." He gave Robin a look that almost bordered on approval, "And I am heartened that she had the same line of thought."

"Aw, you're going soft on us Frederick." Lissa giggled, "But enough work, I still need to show Robin around!" Without waiting for a response from either of the two men, the cleric once again started dragged Robin away from the Chrom and Frederick, and she began showing Robin around the rest of the Shepherds' encampment. Robin was continuously impressed by the resources that the militia had, whether it was their mass of training weapons or their fully stocked kitchen. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like those resources extended to her new quarters.

"You want me to sleep… in that?" The two were standing in front of an old shed on the edge of the training ground. It was completely run-down and Robin suspected that it was the oldest structure in the Shepherd's small section of the city.

"I'm sorry!" Lissa apologized, "It's just that the men and women have separate barracks, and well…"

"You don't think either group would be fully comfortable with Anders and I." Robin finished for Lissa, who hesitantly nodded. Robin sighed, she probably should have seen this coming but that didn't make it any less annoying. She walked up to the building and cringed at the loud noise the door made when she opened it to look inside. It was empty apart from an old wooden table that was covered in dust. "Can I at least get a chair and a cot?"

Lissa lightly hit herself on the head and said, "Duh, let's go do that now!"

A short time later Robin found herself alone in her newly dusted and lightly furnished room. In addition to the chair and cot, she had managed to procure several quills, ink, a stack of vellum, and several large candles. The one upside about the decrepit state of her living quarters was that she didn't need any of her candles yet since there was plenty of light streaming in through the shack's ceiling. She made a mental note that she would have to check with Frederick about getting it repaired before the next time it rained.

Instead of immediately going to find the knight, she turned her attention to the items on her desk, took one piece of vellum from the stack, and dipped her quill in the ink. Feeling oddly apprehensive, she hesitantly wrote a single word on the vellum, waited for it to dry, and slipped her cloak off.

Anders looked around his new surroundings critically while he parsed Robin's memories. "Huh, leaving tomorrow. I figured we'd have at least some downtime," he mused to himself. When he finished going through Robin's latest memories, he grinned and looked down at the sheet of vellum sitting in the middle of the desk. He already knew what it said, since he could remember the act of writing it, but he still looked at the single word on the page written in a flowing script.

~Hello~

* * *

[So what was up with the tomeless magic? You were literally holding your Thunder tome]

~Ugh… don't remind me. I can't believe I forgot one of the most basic parts of casting a spell~

[Well, it all worked out, so it's fine]

~Unless it had a permanent impact on my energy reserves and that's why I've been so tired ever since~

[Maybe ask Miriel? She seems to know her stuff. I've replayed what she said ten times and I still don't understand what she was asking you]

~I don't even remember what it was. It's like my brain shut down when she opened her mouth~

* * *

~Why didn't you mention your eyesight earlier?~

[I didn't know it was that bad! I didn't have any reference for how I should be seeing things]

~You mean other than my memories? I still just see a giant blur when I look at yours after leaving Southtown~

[Okay, you're right. I wonder how it got so bad in the first place]

~Maybe it's just what Frederick said and you grew up somewhere without any healers~

[I guess that's the only thing that makes sense, but it's still odd]

* * *

~So you think you're an archer?~

[I guess... it's the only weapon I've seen so far that felt familiar, so I think it's my best bet]

~It would be good for you to be proficient in something, but training with Virion? Better you than me~

[C'mon, he's not that bad]

~He was flirting with me while we were fighting monsters that had come out of a portal in the sky~

[Okay, yeah… that was pretty bad. Anyway, it probably doesn't matter if I'm trained in archery with you being the tactician and all. It's probably more important for you to be swapped in for fights]

* * *

[So you really can't see Kellam?]

~I know it's crazy, but I can't! I was looking right where he was standing, but at most there was just a slight haze in the air~

[That's super weird. But actually, there was one other odd thing that happened when I met everyone]

~What was that? I just reexamined the memories and nothing else seemed unusual. Not counting Vaike's belching that is~

Robin blinked several times as she was swapped back in, still frowning from when she had swapped out and had been trying to figure out what Anders could mean. Before looking at his response she stretched in her chair and yawned. She supposed this wasn't the most efficient method for them to converse in, but it got the job done. The other method she had considered was speaking out loud so that the other would remember what had just been said, but that would have gotten too confusing too fast. It also would be technically faster to just recall what Anders had written instead of taking the time to read each of his messages, but doing it this way made the conversation almost feel normal.

Before she could return her attention to the page in front of her, there was a firm knock on her door accompanied by Frederick's voice calling her name. Robin scrambled out of her chair and opened the door to the shed to find the knight holding several books, maps, and various other things. Behind him, she could see Sumia, Stahl, and Ricken across the training yard looking in her direction.

"Is everything alright in here? The other Shepherds saw the flashing lights and grew concerned." Frederick asked while slightly adjusting the load he was carrying.

Robin smacked her head lightly as she remembered what Chrom had told Anders about the light that accompanied swaps. Of course everyone else would have seen the lights with all of the holes in the shed. "Um, everything is fine. Anders and I were just talking. Here, I'll take those from you." Robin quickly took the stack of items from Frederick and deposited them on her makeshift desk and turned back to face the knight who had stayed at the shed's threshold.

"You were… talking?"

"Well more so writing, I guess. We alternate between writing something down and then the other will reply."

"I see." Frederick hesitated before he continued, "May I… read your communications?"

Robin was surprised by the question and quickly scanned through their conversation mentally. There wasn't anything in there that she minded the knight seeing, even if it was an odd request. "I… guess?" Robin turned back around to face the desk again and started gathering up the small stack of vellum that their conversation had taken place on. Before she grabbed the most recent sheet, she realized that she hadn't read Anders' most recent answer yet. She quickly accessed his memories, just to verify that it was fine to give Frederick that sheet along with the others.

Robin stood up straight with a jolt as she recalled what Anders' most recent message had been. She didn't understand what Anders could possibly mean, but immediately knew that she could _not_ let Frederick see that message. In a panic she stuffed that page behind the stack of items that Frederick had given her and desperately hoped that he hadn't seen the movement. Thankfully, the knight had been examining the shed's ceiling and hadn't seen her clumsy sleight of hand. She quickly walked back to him and thrust the stack of vellum at him, which he took and started skimming through the messages.

While he read, Robin forced herself to stop from nervously fidgeting. She was sure that there hadn't been anything else in their conversation that the knight shouldn't be reading, but the close call had set her on edge.

Finally, Frederick got to the final page she had given him and sighed. "My apologies for this intrusion," he said as he handed the pages back to Robin. "I stay cautious to counteract the… trusting nature of the Exalted family. However, in this case, I fear that I overstepped my bounds."

"It's fine… really!" Robin quickly said, thinking of how this conversation might have gone very differently if Frederick had received the last page as well.

"Even so. Neither of you have done anything to infringe on the trust milord placed in you. In fact, you both have been a valuable asset this last day." He glanced back up at the ceiling before continuing, "I'll see to it that this structure is restored to a more livable status while we are away."

Her nerves finally dispelled, Robin smiled at Frederick. "I had been hoping to talk to you about that, thank you."

"It is the very least I can do to make sure that all of the Shepherds have proper accommodations. Now, I believe those three intended on inviting you to join them for dinner before witnessing the lights." Frederick gestured behind himself as he spoke which prompted Sumia, Stahl, and Ricken to look everywhere except the shed.

The mention of dinner made Robin realize that she hadn't eaten all day and was once again famished. The Shepherds had arrived in Ylisstol in the late morning, but she'd been too busy touring the Shepherds' facilities to even think about food. She once again thanked Frederick who departed while she returned the conversation back to her desk. Due to hunger and not wanting to further ostracize herself from the rest of the Shepherds, she decided to depart immediately rather than writing a reply to Anders. She would need more time to think about a response anyway.

The three Shepherds were understandably concerned by the lights that they had seen, but were mollified when Robin explained what they had been doing. As Frederick had predicted, they invited her to join them for dinner which Robin gladly accepted. Sumia informed Robin that Kellam had been on chef duty today, which was a good sign since he was the second best cook in the Shepherds after Stahl, according to Ricken's rankings.

While Stahl tried to laugh off the compliment, Robin asked, "Oh yeah? Who's the worst then, so I know who to look out for?"

"Sully!" All three exclaimed without hesitation. "The captain isn't much better, but his food is at least _edible_," Ricken added.

They soon reached the mess hall and immediately caught the intoxicating smell of beef stew that had permeated the room. Robin was barely able to contain her excitement as they all grabbed bowls and filled them up from the large pot. The bear she had eaten the previous night had been delicious, but it had only been cooked meat; this was an actual _meal_. The four of them sat down at one of the tables and Robin had to stop herself from digging in immediately so that Sumia could say a quick prayer to Naga before they ate. Robin glanced at the faded mark on her right hand and idly wondered if she had ever said a prayer to Grima before a meal, but the thought was forgotten as she started eating.

The stew lived up to Ricken's assessment of Kellam's cooking abilities as Robin thought that it tasted simply divine, though she had to ruefully admit that she didn't much in terms of reference. Her fellow Shepherds tried to pull her into a conversation about herself as they ate, but Robin cited her amnesia and got them to talk about themselves instead. She learned that Sumia had recently graduated from the Ylissean pegasus knight academy, but for some reason hadn't joined the military division and instead joined the Shepherds. Ricken had become a Shepherd not long after Sumia had and he'd joined mostly due to his status as Miriel's apprentice. Stahl was basically one of the founding members since he'd joined at Sully's insistence shortly after the militia had formed.

Robin smiled upon learning that last piece of information and reviewed Anders' memory of being introduced to the Shepherds before commenting. "Sully made you join, huh? Didn't she say that she 'doesn't need anyone in a fight' and that 'she's just fine on her own'?" She glanced at Ricken and Sumia as she continued, "The two of you were voicing your own protests at the time, so if you didn't hear, that's _exactly _what she said."

"Wow! You can really remember all that?" Ricken wondered.

Robin finished the last bite of her stew and nodded, "Yeah, Anders was swapped in for that part, so I can clearly recall everything everyone said. I suppose it's possible that we'll lose some of the clarity of memories as time goes on, but so far everything has been crystal clear. Speaking of Anders, I'll swap out now so that he can eat too. It was nice to meet all of you." Before taking off her cloak, Robin realized that she still hadn't seen the cook anywhere. Hoping he was still in earshot, she called out, "Thanks for dinner Kellam, it was great!"

To her surprise and frustration, the soft 'thanks' that came in response sounded like it came from within the mess hall, but she wasn't able to spot the man. The other three Shepherds likewise turned in the direction of the voice, but they were just as unsuccessful. Giving up, Robin grunted in annoyance and took off her cloak, filling the mess hall with a flash of blue light.

Anders looked down at the table in front of him and was surprised to see an empty bowl rather than a sheet of vellum with Robin's reply. He quickly went through Robin's memories and was shocked at how close Frederick had been reading the line where he'd admitted to hearing voices in his head. Anders resolved to thanking Robin for her quick thinking later, but for now he looked at the other three Shepherds sitting at the table with him who were all staring at him with their mouths agape.

The amnesiac couldn't help but smile at their reactions, "Guess you guys aren't used to this yet."

"I don't know if I'll ever be _used_ to that," Stahl claimed while Ricken and Sumia furiously nodded in agreement.

Anders shrugged, "Chrom and Lissa got used to it pretty quick, especially Lissa. I wouldn't be surprised if it takes less time than you might think." He grabbed Robin's bowl and stood up, "I'm going to get some of this stew. I learned last night that Robin and I have different tastes in food, but I can't imagine not liking this from how it smells." While he was heading over to the stew pot, he saw that there was one other Shepherd in the mess hall that was eating several tables away from his group. Oddly, Kellam was still wearing his armor despite having just made dinner.

"You're eating by yourself Kellam? Why don't you join us?" Anders called out to the man hunched over his bowl of stew while Anders filled up his own from the pot.

"Um, I don't want to nuisance."

"Of course you should join us," Sumia insisted while squinting in Kellam's direction. "If we'd known you were still here we would have had invited you right away."

"Yeah!" Ricken added, also feverishly trying to find the man. "We need to thank you for how good this is!"

Anders barely held back his laughter at their attempts and gestured for Kellam to join them. After a second the knight reluctantly stood up with his bowl and walked back to the table with Anders. "So why can you see me?"

"That's like asking why anyone can see anyone. Honestly, it's baffling to me that other people have issues spotting you. If it wasn't for the fact that Robin can't see you, I'd think this is just a prank you guys play on the new members." When he reached the table once more, Anders set his bowl down back where Robin had been originally sitting and Kellam followed suit to his left. Across the table, Ricken and Sumia had turned back around and were intently staring at the air above Kellam's bowl.

"I see him!" Ricken excitedly exclaimed after several seconds of quiet concentration. The young mage currently had one eye closed and the other was only half open. Before anyone could respond, Sumia squealed in excitement after turning her head so that she was looking down the length of the table and had only one eye facing the armored man. This time Anders was unable to hold back and burst out laughing with Stahl quickly joining in. Ricken and Sumia looked annoyed for a second before they saw the ridiculous expression the other was making and started laughing as well while even Kellam chuckled. Once the laughter died down, Ricken triumphantly announced that he could still see Kellam without even having to squint.

"But what if I do… this!" As he spoke, Kellam suddenly rotated his torso so that his shoulder was facing the table. Despite almost being hit by the man's armor, Anders' only response was to look at Kellam in confusion. What would slightly turnin-

"What?" Sumia exclaimed.

"Where'd he go?!" Ricken frantically asked while looking around the room.

"Really?" Anders exasperatedly asked, "He literally just turned his body slightly…"

After that the Shepherds' antics died down and everyone finished their meals in relative peace. The others soon excused themselves so that they could finish packing for tomorrow's mission, leaving Anders by himself. Having nothing better to do, Anders grabbed Robin's cloak and returned to the shed so that the tactician could start perusing the materials that Frederick had provided. He briefly considered retrieving the most recent sheet of vellum to continue their conversation, but decided against it. Robin would likely need all the time she could get for her research and he didn't want to get in the way of that.

Seeing that she was back in the shed, Robin fumbled around for one of the candles before it got too dark in the room. She belatedly realized that she hadn't taken anything to ignite the candles and softly groaned. After a second's thought, she retrieved her Thunder tome from its pocket with her left hand and held one of the candles in her right. She had a feeling that this was a poor idea, but figured that the worst that could happen would be inflicting further damage to the already decrepit structure.

As planned, her Thunder spell caught the candle's wick and the candle immediately ignited. Due to her good aim, the spell had even fizzled after making contact with the wick and it hadn't continued past to hit the shed's walls. She did feel slightly guilty when one of the pages from her tome ripped itself out of the book and the page quickly turned into ash as electricity sparked over it. The sight reminded her that it was probably a waste of resources to use up power from her tome for such a trivial task, but for now she didn't care.

Overall, she was pleased with her success and Robin used the first candle to ignite some of the others before she sat down in her chair. She was finally ready for a productive few hours of reading before bed and eagerly started by unfurling the maps so that she would have a good groundwork for everything else she read.

* * *

**A/N: I apologize about the delay in the release of this chapter. I had an unusually busy summer and it turns out that 3 Houses is a pretty good game which didn't exactly help matters.**

**Thank you to Robert again for the help with editing the chapter, and thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited/reviewed. I really appreciate hearing people's thoughts on the fic, especially considering how large of a change from canon the premise is. On that note, I'll see you in (hopefully) less than a month for Chapter 6: The Departure.**


	6. The Departure

_"However, I fear that I reacted too strongly to what I had foreseen."_

* * *

"Sumia, are you in there?"

Sumia jumped slightly as the question broke the morning's silence and Cain snorted when she stopped brushing him. Joy quickly replaced surprise and she called back, "Yes, I'm here Cordy!" A second later Cordelia walked into the stables, smiling at the sight of her friend.

"I see you've taken on the duty of taking care of all of the Shepherds' mounts. Honestly, I thought it would've happened sooner than this," Cordelia teased. Sumia saw that as always her clothes and long red hair were in pristine condition, and that the pegasus knight seemed fully alert despite the early hour.

"I haven't!" Sumia insisted, "I just wanted to make sure that Cain here was doing okay! He was hurt when the captain and the others fought those monsters and I wanted to make sure that he was ready to travel."

"If anything you've told me about Sully is true, then I'm confident that she's done a satisfactory job of taking care of her own mount." Cordelia's smile disappeared and she continued with a more serious tone, "What did you hear about those monsters?"

Sumia frowned as she tried to remember what she had been told about the encounter when those involved had arrived at the barracks. "Um, Sully said most of them were mindless, but a couple of them were working together. She also said that you need to hit them in certain spots or they just shrug it off." She shuddered at the thought of fighting such creatures, "Virion said that they were… ungraceful? I'm not really sure what that means."

Coredelia tilted her head curiously and asked, "Virion?"

"Oh right, two new Shepherds joined yesterday! Well, three I guess…" She paused so that she could collect her thoughts on the new members. "Well first there's Virion, who I mentioned. He's an archer and he acts like a gentleman. He seems nice, but I think he's hit on all of the women except for Lissa already. I don't think Miriel even noticed."

"Sounds like a real charmer," Cordelia said while smiling softly. "You said there were two more new members?"

"Kind of. Robin and Anders are the other two new Shepherds, but the cloak that they have has this really unusual magic…" Sumia trailed off trying to think of how to possibly explain Robin and Anders. She'd seen them swap several times now and she could still barely wrap her head around it.

"They… share a cloak? And isn't it normal for mages to enchant their robes?"

"No! Well, yes but…" Sumia groaned and then blurted out, "Robin and Anders swap places when he puts on the cloak and they don't know where the other ones goes when one of them is active and they share their memories but they both have amnesia so they don't know what's causi- What are you laughing at?"

While Sumia had been rambling, Cordelia's expression grew increasingly more incredulous until she burst out in laughter. "Sumia, I thought you were telling me about the newest members of the Shepherds, not the latest novel you're reading!"

"I'm serious, you can ask any of the other Shepherds!" Sumia insisted as she lightly stamped her foot in frustration, "They really do swap in and out with each other! Robin is a tactician and Anders thinks he's an archer like Virion. Anders can see Kellam for some reason, but Robin can't like most of us. And they like different foods I think." She desperately tried to think of more details to add in the hopes that they would get her friend to believe her.

"You're serious?" Cordelia's mirth had died down and she frowned slightly, "I suppose it isn't too outlandish when you consider that there's monsters coming out of portals in the sky…" she mused.

Sumia immediately jumped on that comment, glad for the topic change. "Why did you want to know about those things anyway?"

Before Cordelia could reply, they heard someone calling from outside the stables for the second time today. "Hey Sumia, are you in there?"

Smiling, she called back in the same manner she had previously. "Yes, in here Anders." She glanced at Cordelia and whispered, "Told you!"

Anders started talking before he had walked into the stables, "Ricken said I could probably find you here. I was asking around to see if anyone-" Just as he rounded the corner and entered Sumia's sight, Anders stumbled slightly and cut himself off after noticing Cordelia. While he gathered himself, Sumia saw that he was wearing the same clothes as yesterday and had Robin's cloak tucked under his left arm. After a second of silence he awkwardly introduced himself, "Oh. Um, hi. I'm Anders."

Sumia couldn't help but giggle at Anders' gaffe, though she supposed it was slightly hypocritical of her. Still, it was slightly amusing to see someone else make the same blunder that she often did. Thankfully, Cordelia had more tact than her friend and politely said, "It's nice to meet you Anders, Sumia was just telling me about you. My name is Cordelia."

When Cordelia introduced herself Anders seemed to grimace, but the expression turned into a smile so quickly that Sumia decided that she must have imagined it. Despite his smile, Anders looked somewhat nervous as he spoke, though she couldn't understand why. "I hope it was good things. I just had a question for Sumia and then I'll get out of your way. I was asking around and everyone agreed that you would be the best person to talk to for book recommendations. Long story short, would you mind if we borrowed some books for the trip?"

Sumia immediately lit up. None of the other Shepherds had seemed interested in her novels so she was ecstatic to hear that Anders was. "Of course! I'll be sure to pack extras so there's enough for both of us," she gushed.

Anders grinned at her enthusiasm, "Well technically three of us. I'm guessing Robin will eventually want to take a break from reading the materials that Frederick got her. I don't know about her, but I already know more about northern Ylisse than I think I wanted to."

Cordelia seemed taken aback by his statement, but Sumia was slightly crestfallen and didn't notice. "Oh. Do you think you'll have much to read if Robin will be studying while we travel?"

Anders dismissively waved at Sumia's question, "I don't think that'll be a problem at all. Last night Robin confirmed something that I think we both suspected, even though we hadn't actually discussed it." He chuckled then patted Robin's cloak, "Turns out we don't need to sleep."

"Excuse me, did you say that you don't need sleep?" Cordelia asked with disbelief that Sumia fully shared, "And what did you mean about knowing about northern Ylisse?"

"Yeah, it turns out that we're effectively sleeping while swapped out. Robin was pretty tired at the end of her study session, but I feel completely rested even though I've only technically slept about two hours in the last two days. As for the other thing, I'm not sure how much Sumia told you, but Robin and I share memories with each other. I don't have her tactical knowledge, so I wouldn't be the best at applying what she read, but I _could _recite it word for word."

"Oh. I see," Cordelia replied weakly.

Sumia smiled wanly at her friend's confusion. She had gotten a full explanation last night, but even then she didn't really understand what was going on. Getting an idea, she asked, "Do you think Cordelia could meet Robin?" It would probably help if Cordelia actually saw a swap so that the pegasus knight could better understand what they were talking about.

Anders thought for a second then frowned, "Sorry, but I don't think she'd be up for meeting someone new right now. She was pretty exhausted after staying up all night. I think she almost fell out of her chair a couple times while reading, so maybe we should wait until we get back? It'll be at least a couple weeks though."

Cordelia quickly recovered her poise and replied, "It's really no problem. I wouldn't want to disturb her if she's… resting. However, I don't believe that I'll be in Ylisse when the Shepherds return."

Sumia looked at her friend in surprise. "What? Where are you going?"

"Just as you and the Shepherds are leaving for Ferox, I'm going to be joining the pegasus knight squadron stationed at the western border," Cordelia explained. "That's why I asked about those creatures that the Shepherds fought. Though we still don't know how far they've spread, I wouldn't be surprised if we encountered at least one pack of them as well."

"I won't intrude on your goodbyes then," Anders said as he abruptly moved back towards the stable's exit. "It was nice to meet you!"

Sumia and Cordelia looked at each other in surprise at his sudden departure and Cordelia hesitantly called as Anders went out of sight, "It was nice to meet you as well!" She then lowered her voice and added, "That was unusual."

"I think you might have a new admirer and he just got nervous," Sumia suggested playfully. She knew full well that both of them had been guilty of doing so in the past, so it was slightly cathartic to see someone else do the same thing. "He did seem pretty taken aback when he first saw you!"

"You imagined that," Cordelia hurriedly insisted with an uncomfortable expression. "He likely rushed off because there was something that he still needed to pack."

As far as Sumia was aware, Anders didn't have any possessions that would need packing, but gracefully decided to drop the topic. "I'm sure that's it. Anyway, I'm so happy for you! I know you've been waiting to be deployed for a while now."

Cordelia brightened back up at the change in subject, eager to share the details. "We'll be stationed at the border and it will be our duty to turn back any invaders from Plegia," she said proudly. "After prince Chrom's report, Commander Phila decided to send me and some of the other girls to bolster the current guard."

"Oh. Are Mona and Mel going too?" Sumia asked worriedly. Much of the group that Sumia and Cordelia had gone through training with had been unfriendly to the pair, but the verbal barbs from those two had been particularly nasty.

"Yes, but it'll be fine," Cordelia assured her friend. "Their teasing has gone down quite a bit since training ended." Sumia would never have categorized any of the statements from the others as teasing, but didn't press the issue. She still felt bad about leaving Cordelia alone with all of the others when she had left the pegasus knight order, but their ridicule had eventually become too much for her to bear. Ultimately, she hoped that Cordelia's assessment was correct and the others had matured in her absence.

"Well, good luck!" Sumia stepped forward and pulled Cordelia into a warm embrace, careful to avoid bruising herself on the metal breastplate that her friend always wore. That was something she had learned to watch out for from past experiences. After a bit the two parted and Sumia wished her friend goodbye. "I've got some last minute packing to do of my own since it looks like I'm bringing more novels than I thought. Be sure to write!"

"Of course. Though it sounds as if it might be some time before you receive any letters I do send." As she spoke Cordelia started leaving the stables back through the entrance she had come in from. Before exiting the building, she added, "Be sure you've packed plenty of warm clothes for the trip!"

Sumia grinned at the reminder. She could always count on Cordelia to make sure that she had everything that would be needed for a journey.

* * *

[It happened again!]

Robin rubbed her tired eyes while examining the latest batch of memories. When she had finished, she sighed and added her reply to the vellum.

~One of us made a fool of themselves when meeting someone new?~

[Aside from that. I heard the voice in my head again when I first saw Cordelia!]

Robin sat up slightly in her chair and tried to clear out the brain fog from her tiredness in order to focus. There must be some link that tied together the voice that Anders was hearing, their shared amnesia, and their entire situation.

~Who all has the voice named?~

[I think Chrom, Lissa, and Frederick, but I was pretty out of it when I woke up. After that, all of the Shepherds we met yesterday, then Cordelia today]

~So that's all of the Shepherds minus Sully and Virion plus Cordelia?~

[That sounds right, but who have we even met other than them, the Exalt, and Phila?]

~Good point, I think we need more data~

* * *

"Captain Chrom, I would like to request permission to perform various experiments so that I might ascertain the true nature of the relationship between the newest members of the Shepherds."

Chrom pinched his nose. It was still too early in the morning to deal with Miriel and he was already frustrated that the Shepherds still hadn't left Ylisstol. Most of the group had already gathered, but they were still missing Stahl, Vaike, and Robin/Anders. No one had seen Stahl yet, so Vaike had been sent to get him, along with his weapon, when Frederick had discovered that the man had forgotten his axe. Chrom could see flashing lights coming from the shed and assumed that the other pair was having a quick discussion before they left, so he wasn't terribly worried about them. No one had seen Kellam yet either, but that didn't mean much. Realizing that Miriel was still waiting for a response, Chrom sighed and hesitantly asked, "What types of experiments?"

"I would perform the standard gauntlet of magical aptitude tests for both and then advance into a specialized regiment to discover the nature of their connection. I am still in the process of devising the comprehensive agenda, but it will focus on memory, both mental and muscle, and determining what properties the Grimleal cloak has been enchanted to have." After a short pause she added, "Stahl will act as a baseline for any test that requires one."

"That actually all sounds reasonable," Chrom said, somewhat surprised. He didn't know exactly what he had expected, but it was definitely something more arcane than what she had mentioned so far. "Why Stahl though?"

Miriel adjusted her spectacles slightly and explained, "From previous observations I discovered that he is extraordinarily average when compared to other Shepherds. I had intended to make a study of his ordinariness as my next topic of research, but I will eagerly set that project aside for this as I don't believe there will ultimately be significant merit to researching that topic. Though, there is the significant outlier of his skill in his kitchen which is distinctly above the average displayed by the rest of the Shepherds. With that in mind, I theorize that there is some other aspect where he is equally below average. Perhaps more research will be required after all."

Chrom took the opportunity of her pause in her musings and interjected, "Stahl's averageness aside, you have my approval as long as all of the tests are safe. If any of them argue, send them to Frederick or me." As he spoke, Chrom returned his gaze to the shed that had once held the Shepherds equipment and saw the door slowly opened to reveal Anders. As soon as the door opened, he was surprised to see Sumia march over to the amnesiac with an annoyed and determined expression that was decidedly out of place on her. Chrom couldn't hear what was said, but Anders apparently had placated the pegasus knight since the pair soon starting walking to the rest of the gathered Shepherds amicably. Stahl and Vaike were also approaching from the men's barracks so it looked as if they were finally ready to go.

"Morning everyone!" Anders cheerfully said when he and Sumia reached the group, though he mostly rewarded with grunts in response due to the hour. For an elite militia, very few of them were at their best in the morning and Chrom had to admit that included himself. He noticed that Anders had Robin's cloak draped over one arm rather than in the backpack that he was wearing and Chrom realized that he had never seen the cloak leave Anders' sight. He ultimately didn't think much of it though since he decided Anders was likely just paranoid about losing it.

"If everyone is prepared to depart then we should do so," Frederick commented with restrained annoyance from atop his mount. When no one replied, the knight gestured to the wagons that made up their convoy for the trip and after a few seconds delay they started moving. All the Shepherds who didn't fight from horseback were to take turns driving the wagons and Chrom could see that Ricken and Virion had that duty for the first day. After arriving, Stahl had quickly mounted his horse that had already been tacked up by someone, likely Sumia, and the Shepherds fell into line behind the moving wagons.

Chrom made his way over to Anders and clasped him on the shoulders in greeting. "Morning yourself. Ready for a march?"

"Think so. If not, I'll have plenty of practice before we're done. It'll take about ten days to get there right?"

"I suppose so," Chrom laughed then checked to make sure that Sumia was out of earshot. She had moved away to talk to Sully so he quietly continued, "What was that about with Sumia? She seemed upset."

"Oh. Well, we were talking earlier this morning and I met her friend Cordelia. Sumia wanted her to meet Robin, but I said that Robin was too tired after staying up all night. Then she saw the lights and got annoyed, but was pretty understanding when I told her that I had a question for Robin about today's march and that Robin had been pretty annoyed when I did bother her."

"I see," Chrom said slowly. Word had already spread amongst the Shepherds that Robin hadn't slept the previous night, which had been part of the reason he'd been willing to approve Miriel's experiments. There were some definite upsides to having a tactician that didn't need rest, but he wanted to make sure that it wasn't harmful first. He considered mentioning Miriel's tests to Anders, but decided that he would let the mage break the news. He suddenly remembered another of the pair's quirks and spoke in an even lower tone than before. "Is Kellam with us? I wouldn't want to leave him behind."

Anders looked up at the surrounding Shepherds then confirmed, "Yeah, he's walking next to Ricken's wagon." Chrom was expecting another comment about Kellam's near invisibility, but something else had caught Anders eyes and Chrom smiled when he noticed it as well. The street that they were walking down to leave the capital had filled with citizens and soon cheers erupted from the crowd. Several of the Shepherds waved to the crowd with Lissa being especially energetic about it.

"Wow," Anders said as he absorbed the scene in wonder. "Do they even know where we're going?"

"I doubt it. We never all leave for a patrol though so they must know that it's something important," Chrom said while waving at the gathered public. He briefly considered saying something to the assembled citizens, but immediately decided against it. He didn't have his elder sister's natural grace when it came to addressing crowds and wasn't sure what he would tell them anyway. Besides, Emmeryn was going to have to inform the city of what was going on at some point and he didn't want to say anything that would make her position more difficult. It wasn't long before the Shepherds had exited through the city's northern gate and they were officially on their way to Regna Ferox.

* * *

Anders grunted in frustration when the shovel that he was holding barely pierced the tough dirt. Immediately after the convoy had halted for the day, Frederick had assigned all of the Shepherds their tasks for the end of the day, which were split between setting up camp or training so that they could keep their skills sharp while on the road. Anders had been placed into the first group for today, which is why he found himself digging a latrine downwind from their camp. He'd made sure to get precise directions from Frederick on where and how to dig the pit; which the knight had appreciated. Apparently the first time that Vaike had been given this duty, he had dug the hole too close to their camp and hadn't met the dimensions that Frederick insisted on. After that, Frederick had made notches on the shovel's shaft to make it clear what he expected.

With nothing better to do while he continued to dig, Anders reflected on the day's march. The weather had been clear and there hadn't been any interruptions so the Shepherds had made good progress heading up the Northroad towards Ferox. He was a little sore after walking all day, but had to admit that he was getting to cheat by swapping with Robin occasionally. Her endurance was still oddly low so she never was able to march for more than a half hour before she had to swap back, but that was time when he was essentially resting.

While they had walked, Anders and Robin had both talked with several of the other Shepherds and gotten promises for helping to train. Virion had confirmed that he would give Anders pointers in archery while Stahl offered to teach him the basics of sword fighting. Robin would work with Chrom for building up stamina along with sword practice while also training with Ricken to practice magic. They had also found out about Miriel's planned experiments, which Anders was somewhat apprehensively looking forward to. They were slated to start the next day when all three of the involved parties were scheduled for training. Robin had asked the mage about her lack of energy, but Miriel had assured her that while tomeless magic was temporarily draining, it didn't have any long-term adverse effects.

Ultimately, he was glad that it didn't appear that they needed sleep because it was quickly looking like all of their daylight hours would be devoted to moving, working, or training. Robin still had some of her materials to go through despite staying up for the entire previous night so she would probably continue into the evening tonight. Anders had also spoken more with Sumia about reading during the day's march and he was looking forward to starting "Mad Tales of a Bloodthirsty Falcon Knight." Sumia said that she hadn't read any of the thirty-seven volume series yet, but it came quite well recommended. Anders hoped that Robin wouldn't need the entire night again so that he would be able to read at least a few chapters before morning.

For now he was still digging a hole. He briefly looked at Robin's cloak on the ground and thought about swapping her in to give himself a quick respite, but decided against it. He knew that he had some catching up to do to match some of the other Shepherds level of fitness and he would take advantage of the opportunity to do so, even if this was technically a camp duty instead of a training one. Besides, he had been given this task and he was determined to be the one to complete it.

Anders eventually finished digging and managed to pull Frederick away from the knight's training session to get his approval on the work. Anders was next given the task of helping Chrom setup the last couple tents while Stahl finished preparing dinner. While the rest of the Shepherds had been assigned tent-mates, Chrom had one to himself due to his position as the captain of the group. Chrom had decided that Anders and Robin would also get a tent to themselves, which Anders was pleased to hear. Without the need for sleep, he figured that the main purpose of the tent would end up being to mask the light from swapping, which surely would have annoyed their potential tent-mate.

The rest of the evening was largely uneventful as Anders and Robin worked to get to know their companions better during dinner. When night fell, Robin read by the fire while occasionally chatting with Sully, Ricken, and Kellam during their watches. Virion had the fourth and final watch for the night so Robin swapped out so that Anders could talk to Virion about archery and get a start on the book that Sumia had loaned him.

* * *

Robin wasn't sure what to expect as she headed to the meeting point for their second day of Miriel's experiments. The first day had gone surprisingly well, though they hadn't learned all that much. First Miriel had done a magical aptitude test in which she determined that Robin's magical prowess was remarkable. On the other hand, Anders had absolutely no magical potential which was of far greater interest to the mage. Anders was unable to pull any power at all from a tome and he had said that it just felt like he was holding a large book instead of being able to feel the repository of magic within. According to Miriel, Vaike was the least magically inclined of the Shepherds and even he could make a small spark when holding a Fire tome. The fact that Anders was incapable of even that small feat was unprecedented as far as Miriel was aware.

After that, they had done some simple memory tests that hadn't gleaned any new information about the limits of their shared recollections. In preparation for the test, Miriel had gathered thirty various objects from around the camp and had paired them up. After letting Anders examine the objects for a few seconds, he had swapped out and Robin was able to accurately recite all of the pairs. After Miriel changed the pairings, they tried had waited half an hour between examining the objects and reviewing, but it hadn't made any difference in the accuracy of the memories. Stahl had been asked to perform the same task, but he'd forgotten all except two of the groupings when it came time for his review.

Robin hoped that today would be more fruitful in determining what exactly had bonded her and Anders, so she was slightly disappointed when she saw that the only thing that Miriel had brought to today's testing session was two buckets filled with what looked like mud. Seeing that Stahl was already waiting with Miriel, Robin apologized, "Sorry I'm late. Sword practice with Chrom went a little longer than I expected."

Apparently Stahl was well familiar with training with Chrom since he chuckled while Miriel simply adjusted her glasses and calmly spoke. "It is of no significant matter. Today's experiment will attempt to ascertain some of the precise magical qualities that are imbued within your cloak. As you are likely aware, most mages add various utility or defensive enchantments to their robes, or parasol in Maribelle's case."

Robin tilted her head slightly and asked curiously, "What sort of spells does Maribelle have on her parasol?"

Miriel answered unfazed by the interruption, "After consulting me, she added a minor defensive enchantment that should reduce the damage done by magical attacks. There is also a magical reconstruction enchantment that will restore it to an unblemished state if it does undergo any damage. From Lissa's account of your encounter with the smoke creatures, it is my hypothesis that your cloak shares both of those enchantments." Miriel paused for a second to collect her thoughts before continuing, "I believe we are ready to begin. Stahl, would you puncture Robin with your weapon?"

"What?!" Both Robin and Stahl asked incredulously.

"Hmm. Perhaps an explanation would not be remiss." When Robin nodded emphatically at the statement, Miriel continued, "According to the princess, there were multiple witnesses to your injury that night, but she found no trace of your wounds upon attempting to examine them. I would like to replicate that event so as to obtain a better understanding of how that occurred."

"I guess that makes sense…" Robin said hesitantly, "But shouldn't we at least have Lissa here for this then?"

"An appropriate concern. However, in the interest of time I suggest that Stahl limits himself to non-threatening injuries for this test."

Stahl chuckled nervously at that and looked back at Robin, "Uh sure. I'll try not to hit anything too important." After a second, Robin sighed and nodded at him so Stahl unsheathed his sword and walked up to her. "How about the left arm? There shouldn't be any real damage there and Lissa could fix it up if Miriel is wrong."

Robin suspected that Lissa would have extremely choice words for the three of them if this didn't go as expected. "Let's just get this over with," she said resignedly. Robin watched with no small amount of trepidation as the point of the cavalier's sword slowly approached her sleeved arm and then pressed against it.

It felt as if she'd been stung by a small insect so Robin jumped backwards and started rubbing her arm while Stahl looked at her concernedly. "Are you alright? There wasn't any resistance so I didn't think I'd hit your arm yet."

Somewhat surprisingly, Miriel waited until Robin nodded before asking, "Could you expose your arm so that we might examine the wound?" The tactician slowly pulled up the sleeve and was somewhat unsurprised when she saw that both her arm and the cloak had been undamaged by the sword. Mirroring the previous injury, the pain quickly faded and Robin suddenly felt tired and stifled a yawn. After she'd examined Robin's arm, Miriel continued, "Fascinating. There is no indication of the weapon's contact and you are currently experiencing a burst of exhaustion correct?"

"It's not as bad-" Robin was forced to cut herself off by another yawn, "As last time, but yes I do feel tired now."

"I see. I suspect that the mage that placed the enchantment on the cloak erred in its implementation. It seems that this cloak attempts to restore itself and the wearer at a significantly heightened rate when compared to the standard version of the enchantment. This comes at the cost of draining the wearer's energy rather than utilizing residual magical energy."

Miriel's suggestion forced Robin back to full wakefulness and she paled at the idea. It would be disastrous on a battlefield if her cloak was prioritizing immediate restoration over her energy levels. Any injury she might take in a fight would be absorbed by her cloak, but the resulting fatigue could easily lead to taking additional harm. That meant that even trivial injuries would force her to temporarily remove herself from a fight. "We can fix the enchantment though, right?" Robin asked hopefully.

"There is no way for a mage to perform modifications to an enchantment created by another," Miriel answered. "We would need to locate the original caster, though I suspect that effort might prove fruitless when one considers your amnesia. I can say with certainty that you were not the originator of this particular effect."

The fact that she hadn't sabotaged herself was only a slight comfort to Robin, but made her wonder what crackpot she had commissioned the enchantment from. Maybe whoever had messed this up was also responsible for connecting her to Anders and possibly even their shared amnesia. If it wasn't for his complete lack of magical ability, Robin might have suspected that Anders was the one who had botched the enchantment and caused their situation in the first place. At any rate, there wasn't an immediate solution to the problem so she decided that it would have to be dealt with and move on. "If we're done with that test, what are the buckets for?"

"Ah, yes. Let us move onto the second of the evening's experiments." As she spoke Miriel walked back over to the two buckets on the ground while Robin and Stahl followed her. "We've confirmed that your cloak has a reconstruction enchantment and I would like to verify that it also has a resistance element."

"So we're using mud?" Stahl asked.

"Precisely. A fortunate side-effect of a resistance enchantment is that the item is easier to clean and maintain beyond anything that isn't covered by the reconstruction enchantment. Stahl if you would empty the contents of one of the receptacles on the sleeve of the cloak."

Stahl and Robin didn't have any reservations to this experiment after the last one so the cavalier picked up one of the buckets and poured the contents on Robin's outstretched arm. Astoundingly, the mud seemed to slide right off of the fabric and it all landed in a splatter at their feet with no trace left behind on the cloak's sleeve.

Stahl whistled softly at the sight, "I should look into getting that set up for myself. Would make laundry day a lot easier."

"While true, a traditional resistance enhancement would not achieve the results you just witnessed," Miriel interjected. "A standard version would leave behind some dirt residue while this enchantment has fully deflected all of the mud. At any rate, Robin's section of the evening's experiments has been concluded. If you could swap to Anders we can proceed."

Robin was surprised by the abrupt dismissal, but felt a little better when Stahl gave her a sympathetic shrug. "Oh. Okay then. I'll see you two tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, night Robin," Stahl said with a smile as he lightly nudged Miriel with his elbow.

"Ah. My apologies," Miriel said. "It is customary to bid someone good evening. Good evening." Robin couldn't help but laugh and roll her eyes at that before she dropped her cloak to the ground.

Anders smiled at the pair in front of him, "Hey guys, what's left on today's agenda?" Even though he'd received some disappointing news the previous evening, he had still looked forward to the evening's tests during the march earlier in the day. Learning exactly how he and Robin were connected would be invaluable in the future, and he was hopeful that one of the experiments would lead them to finding some niche that he could fill in the Shepherds. He realized that he should probably learn what tests had already been performed so he started accessing Robin's memories before Miriel could answer. He didn't have much time to think about the results of Robin's tests, because just as he finished parsing the memories he was hit in the middle of the chest by a large splattering of mud.

"What the hell Stahl?!" Anders angrily exclaimed as he tried to wipe the mess of his clothes. Unfortunately, he was only succeeding in sliding the slop around and was just getting it on more of his outfit and arms. "These are the only clothes I have!"

"Precisely." Miriel answered over Stahl's laughter. "We have ended the third day of our journey and both yourself and Robin have yet to change your attire. I believe that the cloak's resistance enchantment is powerful enough that it is also being applied to both of you."

"Well I think we can say that theory is good and debunked," Anders said as he continued trying to get most of the mud off of his shirt and wipe it off of his hands. "You know I'm going to be taking some of your clothes for this, right Stahl?"

The cavalier immediately stopped laughing and Miriel continued before he could object. "I don't believe we have reached that conclusion yet. If the enchantment is being shared, then physical contact is most likely required for the magic to take effect."

Deciding to give it a shot, Anders leaned down and touched Robin's cloak with his dirt-covered hand. The effect was instantaneous as all of the remaining mud slid off of his shirt and even the residue on his hands disappeared. "That's incredible!" Anders exclaimed while he looked himself over. "I guess you were right about it keeping our clothes clean. I hadn't even realized that I'd been wearing the same thing for days." Stahl was likewise impressed by the effect, but his expression turned mournful when he noticed that some of the mud had splattered on his pants at some point.

Miriel nodded approvingly at the small amount of mud on Stahl. "Excellent, we can now proceed to the final test. Stahl, if you would make contact with the cloak as well." Stahl's hopes of avoiding extra laundry were quickly dashed when he touched the cloak and nothing happened to the mud that had landed on him. When Anders and Stahl looked at her expectantly, Miriel explained, "A mage's robes are bound to them such that others are unable to take advantage of any enchantments that do more than protect the robe itself."

"So as far as the cloak is concerned, Robin and I are the same person?" Anders asked.

"That is my working theory, which concludes the evenings' experiments. Thank you for your participation. I will add these results to my notes." Miriel said, then started to move away before hesitating after a few steps. "Good night," she added, then resumed the walk back to her tent.

"Night!" Anders called after her before turning back towards Stahl and grabbing the buckets along with Robin's cloak. "Why don't you head back to camp as well? I'll get these cleaned up since it seems you need to do some cleaning yourself."

"Very funny," Stahl said sarcastically, then smiled. "Thanks though. I'll see you tomorrow." Anders nodded at that and watched the other man return to the main part of the camp before he turned his attention back to the buckets. Frederick probably wouldn't appreciate it if they were returned dirty, but now that he knew that he could use Robin's cloak to remove any dirt from himself it would be an easy task of getting the buckets cleaned out. As he worked he considered the benefits that the cloak was providing. Swapping was still extremely weird and inconvenient at times, but not having to deal with laundry, bathing, or sleeping were excellent upsides as far as he was concerned.

* * *

"So what does a wyvern actually look like?" Anders asked. It was shortly after lunch on the fourth day of the trip and Sumia was telling him about the novel that she was currently reading as they walked at the back of the convoy. The novel was named "Wyvern Wars: Terror at High Noon," but Anders was having a hard time following her synopsis without knowing what the titular species was.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Sumia quickly apologized, "Um, you know what a lizard is right?"

"Like a newt?" Anders asked while trying to imagine a colony of small amphibians attacking a town like Sumia had described.

"Yes! Well no, not really. I guess take a newt, but make it more scaly and less slimy. And then make it a little bigger than a horse and give it wings…" Sumia trailed off and looked at him hopefully.

Anders scratched his head and thought about it for a few seconds, but it was too much of a stretch for him to even attempt to imagine. "Uh, maybe I'll just wait to see one in person."

Sumia softly giggled, "I suppose that might be for the best, though I've never even seen one up close though since we don't have many in Ylisse. Maybe we'll see one in Ferox?"

Anders grinned at the possibility. "I hope so, they sound pretty cool."

The pair continued discussing their books for several minutes when Anders heard a commotion from up ahead. "Do you hear that?" When Sumia nodded the pair picked up their pace to see what was going on. At the front of the convoy they saw that the rest of the Shepherds had gathered in front of Chrom and Sully, and when Chrom spotted them he quickly waved them over. "Good, I was starting to wonder where you two where. We have a bit of a situation at hand," Chrom said and then looked at Sully.

The cavalier nodded and explained, "I was scouting ahead and saw more of those creatur-"

"Risen," Frederick supplied helpfully.

Sully scowled, but continued without comment, "More of those _Risen_ ahead of us. They're between us and the bridge so we have to go through them and take it. I spotted around twenty of the damn things."

Chrom turned to address the assembled Shepherds, "You heard her, everyone prepare for battle." Anders briefly thought about grabbing his bow and participating himself, but decided against it. After a couple evenings of practice, Virion had declared that Anders was good enough with the bow that he would be an asset in a fight. His sword lessons with Stahl weren't going nearly as well, but he was making at least some progress there as well.

Eventually he sighed and started putting on the cloak instead. The Shepherds would get a lot more value out of a tactician than a mediocre archer in the fight and he wanted them to have every advantage possible. Only a couple of the Shepherds had needed to run off to retrieve their gear for the fight, so Anders waved at the remaining members and simply said, "Good luck guys." Before anyone could reply, he finished pulling the cloak around him and disappeared in a flash of light.

Robin quickly analyzed the situation and addressed the Shepherds that were looking at her expectantly. "We'll need to see how they're positioned before we can have a full plan, but for now let's do this: Frederick I want you on the west side of the road while Sully and Stahl are on the east. Hopefully they haven't dug in on the bridge yet and you three will be able to pick off any stragglers. Everyone else, we leave the wagons here and advance on foot. Stay on the road and we'll move forward together." When she was met with silence, Robin added, "Let go then! It'll only get harder the more time they've had to prepare!"

She wasn't entirely sure about the last part since most of the creatures, Risen apparently, had seemed mindless in their previous encounter. She didn't know if these would be the same though and didn't want to take the risk. When the Shepherds resumed their march she looked to see how the three members that Chrom had asked her to pay extra attention to were doing. Lissa looked apprehensive, but she'd been present for the last fight as well and she would be sticking to a support role, so Robin wasn't worried about her. For the other two, Ricken was clearly eager but Sumia looked extremely uneasy at the prospect of a fight.

Robin made her way over to Sumia's side and softly said, "Let me know if you don't think you're ready. I could position you in a rearguard to keep an eye out for any more of them behind us."

Sumia shook her head and tried to steel herself, though it wasn't terribly convincing. "No, the captain was right. I'll only get better by being involved."

"That may be, but-" Robin cut herself off and cursed under her breath when she spotted the plume of smoke ahead of them.

Sully had been wrong, the Risen weren't taking the bridge. They were destroying it.

* * *

**A/N: As usual, thank you to everyone who's followed/reviewed and also to Robert for help with editing. ****This is the last of what I consider the exposition chapters, so things will start to pick up with Chapter 7: Burning Bridges.**


	7. Burning Bridges

_"My interference to preserve this world emboldened the enemy, making them stronger and more willing to take risks than they had been in the others. These new tactics led to previously unknown situations and quickly invalidated much of my foresight."_

* * *

Robin's fears were confirmed when the Shepherds crested the small hill that was a couple hundred feet before the bridge. From the new vantage point she could see that about two dozen Risen had reached the bridge and were already bent on destroying it. Some of the Shepherds cursed at the sight, but Robin was glad to see that they had all waited for further orders instead of charging ahead. All of them were anxiously looking at her, expectantly waiting for their orders while she surveyed what would soon be a battlefield.

While most of the Risen were still on the south side of the river, several of the creatures had started crossing while the growing flames began to consume the bridge behind them. Most of the Risen on the Shepherds' side of the fire had formed a defensive barrier between them and three of the creatures. Two of them were wielding hammers and attacking the bridge's supports, apparently not satisfied with simply lighting the bridge on fire. The last of the notable Risen was holding a large bastard sword and it stood still as it stared directly at the Shepherds. Robin couldn't help but shiver slightly under its scrutiny; the daylight did nothing to reduce the eerie glow of its purple eyes.

Chrom softly cleared his throat and when Robin glanced towards him, he asked "What's the plan Robin?"

"Still thinking about it. Besides, there's no rush," Robin replied absently as she returned her attention to the scene below. Perhaps it would be best to call back the mounted Shepherds, they hadn't been able to catch any-

"No rush!?" Vaike exclaimed incredulously, "We gotta get down there before they wreck the bridge!"

"It's likely already wrecked," Robin said bluntly without sparing the axeman a glance. "They've already lit it on fire and taken out two, no three, supports on this side. Even if we charged right now, we wouldn't be able to deal with them fast enough to reclaim the bridge while it's still stable enough to cross. Besides, I'm not about to risk lives just to make the repairs easier in the future. This is going to take some finesse, so we need everyone on the same page. Miriel, if you would?" Robin gestured to the three Shepherds waiting ahead of them at the question.

"Of course," the mage replied calmly. "Fire."

Robin watched the small fireball shoot into the sky and was pleased to see that Frederick, Sully, and Stahl immediately started to ride back to the rest of the Shepherds. While she had been studying Ylissean tactics, she had discovered that their military had a history of using a mage's spells as signals on the battlefield. The Ylissean military was now a shadow of its former self, but the ideas were evidently still being taught. She would have to come up with new signals for the Shepherds to use at a later date so enemies couldn't decipher them, but for now the traditional ones would suffice.

Once the three returned and had been quickly briefed by Chrom, Robin addressed all of the Shepherds, "There aren't any bystanders so we can afford to be methodical about this. Our primary goal is to destroy all of the Risen without anyone taking an injury that Lissa can't take care of. Other than a couple of small villages, we're days away from help so please be careful." Robin paused and waited for most of the Shepherds to nod in understanding before she continued.

"Our strategy will be to bait them off the bridge so that we don't have to force our way through the group. Virion, Miriel, Sully and Stahl will go on the east while Frederick, Kellam, Ricken and I will be on the west side of the bridge. The two melee combatants in each group will act as a wall while the other two harass the Risen and try to get them off that bridge. Thunder and Fire are less precise, so Miriel and I will be firing into the main group and just try to hit as many as possible. Ricken and Virion should try to destroy the four Risen on the other side of the flames so they don't get away while we're fighting the main group. Mobility won't be terribly important here, so it's up to you three if you want to leave your horses behind or not."

"And the rest of us?" Chrom inquired, "You left out Lissa, Vaike, Sumia, and myself."

"You four will stay on the road and make sure the Risen don't get too close to the convoy. I'm sure they'd like to light that on fire as well. That said, if one of the groups is getting overwhelmed or someone takes an injury, then I'll need you to act as reinforcements and escort Lissa to them. Does anyone have any questions?" Even though she wasn't pleased about having to fight the Risen again so soon, Robin had to admit that she couldn't have picked a better scenario for her first full engagement as the Shepherd's tactician. Time was a factor, but it wasn't critical so she could make sure that everyone was on the same page. Also, with all of their enemies concentrated in one spot she'd be able to keep an eye on most of the Shepherds to see how they fared in the fight.

Robin was glad to see that the Shepherds, apart from Sully and Vaike, were taking the time to consider the plan. Those two looked like they were ready to go immediately and she suspected they would have accepted any strategy that she proposed so long as it lead them to the fight. When Robin's question was ultimately met with silence, she added, "Half of each group encountered the Risen last time, so be sure to give pointers were they're needed." When she received nods from Chrom and Sully, Robin smiled, "Let's get going then. No sense in letting the bridge take any more damage than necessary."

That was unexpectedly answered by a scattering of cheers from the Shepherds before everyone split into their groups. Frederick and Sully had opted to stay mounted while Stahl dismounted, which Robin decided was for the best anyway. This way each of the side teams still had one mounted unit in case of an emergency. Robin was starting to swing around to the west with Ricken, Frederick, and presumably Kellam, when she called out to the others before they got out of earshot, "Remember, let them come to you!" Things could go very poorly if someone broke ranks, so she wanted to reinforce that part of the plan before the battle started.

"It's a fine plan Robin," Frederick offered as they moved into position. "It is certainly refreshing to have a strategy that isn't limited to charging the enemy head on."

"It was just nice to be remembered," a voice from near Frederick added. "Normally I have to run to keep up with everyone else." Glad to have the confirmation that Kellam was with them, Robin turned to where the voice had come from and squinted like Ricken had done on the first day she had met the Shepherds. She was pleased to see that the slightly hazy air materialized to reveal the outline of a suit of armor. She would just have to hope that Kellam wouldn't move around too much and that she would be able to maintain her view of him during the fighting.

"I'm glad to hear you both approve. The trick here will be coordination since we don't have any real way to communicate with the east team other than Miriel and I using signals." Robin noticed that Ricken was being unusually silent but decided that he was psyching himself up for his first battle. Robin had done her best to follow Chrom's directive; even though he was near the front lines, Ricken was partnered with herself and the two most defensive Shepherds. Lissa and Sumia would be out of the way of most of the fighting so that should keep them safe as well. Plus Chrom and Vaike were two of the Shepherd's best fighters from what she knew, so the two men should be more than capable of taking out any Risen that approached their group.

Once her group was in position, Robin just needed to signal the eastern group that they were ready. She briefly considered using tomeless magic for the signal, but decided against it since she still had plenty of pages left in her tome. During Robin's magical aptitude test, Miriel had reiterated that there was no permanent downside to using tomeless magic, and that it wasn't nearly as draining as Virion's words and her previous experience had led her to believe. That meant that her low energy was still a mystery, but she was still glad to know that the option was available to her.

An arrow suddenly bounced off of Kellam's armor and Robin quickly scanned the battlefield while she fired two Thunders into the air. From her vantage point on the hill she had only been able to see Risen wielding axes, hammers, and swords so she hadn't expected the enemy to have any ranged capabilities. Now that they were closer, she could see two of the four Risen that had started crossing the bridge and she realized that they weren't trying to escape. Instead, the Risen that were still on the bridge were trying to attack the Shepherds while using the wall of flames as a shield. The two that she could see were both archers but she was starting to suspect that at least one of the four had a fire tome.

"I wasn't expecting archers, but the plan is the same. Ricken, I need you to take out those archers and I'll start poking the bear."

"Right!" Ricken replied before holding out his tome and shouting, "Wind!" Unlike fire magic, wind magic could manifest itself away from the caster so Ricken's spell appeared only several feet away from one of the archers before it shot forward and hit the creature in the shoulder. The blow wasn't enough to kill the Risen, but it still reinforced Robin's confidence in the plan.

Suddenly a small fireball exploded in the middle of the main pack of Risen causing several of them to shuffle around in an attempt to avoid the flames. Apparently Miriel had decided to forgo the normal signals and save spells by signaling that her team was ready by starting the assault. Robin quickly followed the mage's lead by calling forth another Thunder, but this time decided to take inspiration from Ricken by having her spell manifest as a small bolt from the sky. In terms of flexibility, thunder magic was between fire and wind; it could either come directly from the caster or from above. Since her spell was only a basic Thunder, it wasn't nearly as damaging as an actual bolt of lighting, but attacking from above rather than the side would make it slightly more likely that she would kill one of the bunched up Risen.

Robin didn't wait to see if her spell had destroyed any of the Risen and immediately formed a second small bolt and struck another one of the creatures from above. For the next few seconds she and Miriel alternated attacking the large group of Risen, and Robin was pleased to see that their ranks appeared to be thinning. She hadn't been confident if Fire and Thunder would be precise enough to inflict mass casualties among the creatures, but all that was needed for her plan to work was for a few of them to fall. The tactician spared a glance over to see how Ricken was doing and noted that he had successfully destroyed one of the archers. The other archer was returning fire, but the young mage was hiding behind Kellam's shield between casts of Wind so he wasn't in very much danger.

A bone chilling roar came from the bridge and Robin grinned as the second phase of her plan began. The Risen that she and Miriel had been attacking began to disperse at the noise and they started heading towards the three different groups of Shepherds. The Risen with the bastard sword stayed behind with the two Risen wielding hammers and the latter were continuing their assault on the bridge's supports. Thankfully none of the Risen looked like they were trying to escape through the admittedly large gaps between the Shepherds and instead all of the creatures were moving towards one of the three groups. In their previous encounter with the Risen, the creatures had generally attacked whoever was closest to them, so Robin had spread out the Shepherds with the goal that no single group should be swarmed.

The tactician switched back to firing Thunder from her right hand and hit one of the five Risen charging her group, stunned the creature. At the same time, Frederick threw a javelin and destroyed a different one when the weapon shot clean through the Risen's chest. Rather than risking a second throw before the Risen could reach them, the knight pulled out his lance and readied himself for the three remaining charging Risen. Kellam was still busy blocking arrows for Ricken and wasn't able to aid the knight yet so Robin switched to her sword and moved beside Frederick. Her training over the last couple days had given her a bit more confidence with the weapon and she decided that she would be a better distraction engaging one of the Risen in melee rather than stunning it for only half of the time.

In a repeat of their first battle with the Risen, the creatures didn't account for the length of Frederick's lance and another one of the Risen was destroyed with a strike through its heart before the knight was even within range of its sword. As Robin crossed swords with one of the remaining Risen, she hoped that the members of the other groups were likewise taking advantage of the information that they had gained from the previous fight and sharing as she had asked them to. So far she and Frederick hadn't needed to do so yet since Ricken's task was fairly straightforward and Kellam was still acting as a glorified towershield for the young mage.

The current fight felt oddly familiar as she fought a single Risen while her ally battled two, but this time Robin was determined not to be injured. She quickly disengaged her sword from the parry before the Risen could start using its superior strength to continue its downward swing. When it stumbled slightly at the sudden lack of resistance, Robin quickly swiped her sword across the creature's chest, though the blow wasn't deep enough to piece its heart and destroy it. However, the damage from the attack was still enough to make it pause, throwing the creature even more off-balance. Robin immediately reversed the direction of her swing and angled it upwards so that the blade sliced the Risen through its neck, turning the creature to purple smoke.

Just as Robin was about to help Frederick with his remaining opponent, there was a flash of red light and a yell from her left. When she spun towards the noise, she saw that there were scorch marks on Kellam's armor and the grass around him was slightly singed. Robin's eyes darted to the bridge and noted that while Ricken had destroyed the second archer, the Risen mage that she had suspected was behind the fire had come over to their side of the bridge. While she was confident that Ricken would be able to kill this creature like he had the previous two, there was a good chance that Kellam would be roasted in his plate armor before Ricken could get a clean enough hit to kill the creature. While Kellam's armor and shield had been extremely useful in stopping the Risen's arrows, they didn't offer nearly as much protection against magical attacks as they did physical.

Seeing no other option, Robin yelled out, "Ricken use Wind on the fire! Fan the flames!"

"W-what about the bridge?" Ricken called back with trepidation.

"Forget the Grima-damned bridge! We need to force that Risen back!" Accentuating her point was another flash of red light when Kellam was struck by a second small fireball. He had managed to partially block the spell with his shield but it still clearly was doing plenty of harm from the grunt of pain that Kellam made. Ricken jumped slightly at the small explosion, then nodded to himself and fired a Wind directly at the lit section of the bridge. For a moment the flames died down from the force of the wind before quickly exploding outwards as the fire fed on the magic-infused air. The Risen with the Fire tome showed a surprising amount of intelligence by backpedaling away from the flames, then turning and running up the bridge away from the Shepherds. Robin had hoped to stop any of the Risen from escaping, but there wasn't anything that could be done about that one at this point.

Frederick had taken care of the last of the Risen that had attacked their group while Robin had been distracted by the Risen mage and the knight was standing ready for new orders. Robin noticed that the growth of the fire had also occurred on the Shepherds' side of the river and the three Risen that had stayed on the bridge previously had also been forced off, and had started to shamble directly south. She couldn't spot Virion's team from across the blaze, but saw that Chrom's had finished destroying the four Risen that had attacked them and that they were warily watching the last three Risen approach. Robin immediately started running towards the remaining threat as she yelled, "Ricken, make sure that Kellam gets to Lissa! C'mon Frederick!"

The knight shot past her at a full gallop and Robin soon found herself gasping for breath as she hurried after him. It seemed that the combat training and marching over the last couple days had done very little for improving her endurance. She briefly considered swapping to Anders and having him run the rest of the way, but quickly decided against it. Robin had her doubts that her counterpart would be able to defend himself against the Risen if one of them were to attack him along the way and she wasn't willing to take that risk. Realizing that she would be completely useless once she did reach Chrom and the others if she continued at her current pace, Robin forced herself to slow down and reassess the battlefield while she moved.

From her new position she could see that Stahl was still fighting the last Risen while Sully was following Frederick's lead and charging towards Chrom and the others. Virion was once again riding behind her on Cain, and Robin mentally kicked herself for not thinking of that. It would have slightly slowed Frederick's arrival but it would have been worth it to get her in the fight sooner. That said, she supposed that it wasn't guaranteed that Frederick would have agreed to any delay in him reaching his charges. Robin's attention was pulled away from her musings when she noticed that Miriel wasn't aiding Stahl with the remaining Risen as she would have expected. Instead the mage was holding what looked like a Wind tome and was staring intently at the bridge.

Robin kept an eye on Miriel as she continued jogging towards Chrom and the others. She was fully cognizant of the fact that she should be paying closer attention to the fight she was approaching, but curiosity had gotten the better of her. After a few more moments of observation, several curved blades of wind appeared in front of Miriel and shot towards the bridge. While Ricken's Wind spells had been swirling mass of the magical energy, this spell was rigidly defined which meant that it must be an Elwind. The blades of wind swept across the top of the flames and forced the air from the fire, causing much of it to be extinguished instantly. Small parts of the bridge were still ablaze, but Robin's guilt from having Ricken fan the flames was greatly reduced when she saw that the potential destruction was nowhere near where it had been just seconds before.

When Robin returned her full attention to the remaining Risen, she saw that the Shepherds had destroyed one of the creatures with a hammer. The last two Risen had been surrounded and were making deliberate swings towards their attackers while still maintaining their guard. It looked like the Shepherds had taken a few minor injuries during the fight such as a large bruise across Vaike's chest, but thankfully there was nothing that Lissa wouldn't be able to treat once the threat was dealt with. Sumia and Lissa were staying outside of the ring that the rest of the Shepherds had formed and were circling the group in order to help anyone who needed it. Even with the distance, Robin could tell that Sumia was visibly nervous but Lissa appeared to be encouraging her.

Robin judged that she was finally in range so she retrieved her Thunder tome from its pocket and cast a Thunder at the Risen with the broadsword. She decided to use an aerial bolt so as to avoid hitting one of her allies in case they were to unexpectedly moved into spell's path. Her aim was surprisingly good and the small bolt of lightning hit the Risen with the sword on the top of the head, causing the creature to dissolve into purple smoke. The remaining Risen began swinging its hammer at Frederick, but it was likewise destroyed when Vaike dashed forward at the opportunity, slicing his axe through the creature's neck.

The axeman whooped in triumph and boasted, "That's what happens to anyone who hits the Vaike!" The impressiveness of his boast was slightly ruined when he winced and clutched his chest. Lissa quickly moved to his side and the bruise across his chest slowly shrunk until it completely disappeared.

"Maybe if you wore some armor you wouldn't have been hit in the first place!" Lissa scolded him as she finished the healing process.

Robin cut in before he could give a rebuttal, "Great job everyone. I don't see any more of the Risen so we should be safe now. Lissa, can you go check on Kellam? He got hit a few times and Ricken should be helping him head over here. Frederick and Sully, if you and your horses are uninjured can you go back to the convoy and get some buckets? Miriel put out most of the fire with that Elwind so we should be able to handle the rest with just water from the river."

While the mentioned people rushed to their tasks, Chrom looked at Robin curiously, "Speaking of the fire, do you know what caused that explosion? It about made me jump out of my skin."

"Oh, that was me." Robin said sheepishly and quickly explained when Chrom raised an eyebrow, "There was a Risen mage with a Fire tome and it was likely that it would have hurt Kellam badly before Ricken would have been able to get a clean hit to destroy it. So instead I had him use Wind on the fire to grow the flames and make it back off. As a bonus, it also made those other three leave their defensive position."

Vaike whistled loudly when Robin had finished, "You weren't kiddin' about putting people before the bridge, were ya?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Chrom said with a smile. "That was well done Robin. Let's head over to the bridge and see if there's anything to be salvaged." Sumia had gone with Lissa to check on Kellam, so the four remaining Shepherds made their way over to inspect what was left of the bridge.

On the way they were joined by Stahl and Miriel, and Robin couldn't help herself from gushing at the mage. "Miriel, that Elwind was incredible! I didn't know that any of the Shepherds could cast El-level spells, let alone have a tome for one!"

Miriel adjusted her glasses slightly and calmly answered, "My thanks. After witnessing the rate at which the inferno developed after Ricken's Wind, I hypothesized that a more potent spell would be able to achieve the inverse by removing that same very air. As for the matter of aptitude, I suspect that you are close to being able to utilize Elthunder yourself." The mage paused for a second and looked unusually uncomfortable, "I admit that I was loath to take advantage of my possession of this particular tome. I had intended to bestow it upon Ricken as a celebration of his graduation from apprenticeship."

Chrom chuckled softly at that, "I don't think he'll mind much if it's already been used when you give it to him. At any rate, I agree with Robin. You did an excellent job of reducing the damage." Miriel inclined her head slightly at the praise but made no additional comment. When they reached the bridge Robin saw that quite of few of the boards had been burned enough that she doubted their stability, but the bridge seemed surprisingly intact to her untrained eye. While the Risen with the hammers had removed several of the supports, neither they nor the fire seemed to have done enough to destabilize the bridge's structure as a whole.

Stahl seemed to agree with her assessment and he was the first to speak up as the Shepherds examined the bridge, "Honestly it looks a lot better than I would have expected. If we replace some of these boards and reinforce others, then I bet we could still cross it."

"How long would that take?" Chrom inquired, "And how far away is the next crossing Robin?"

Robin answered while Stahl considered the repairs, "We wouldn't be traveling on a road so it would be a slower pace than what we've had up to this point. I'd estimate just under a day for us to reach the next bridge and then we'd lose a bit of time coming back to the Northroad on the other side, so it would add about two days in total."

"I bet we could have it fixed up well enough to cross after two or three days," Stahl offered. He glanced behind them and added, "You might want to see what Frederick thinks though." When everyone else looked back they saw that Frederick and Sully were finally returning with water buckets.

"I'll check what his thoughts are, but right now I'm leaning towards the repairs. We wouldn't be losing much time from what you two said, and this bridge is going to be more important than ever if we're successful in Ferox."

Robin nodded at Chrom's assessment, "I agree. Besides, if you consider the return trip, we would be losing time in total by going around. At any rate, we should start by putting out the last of the fires."

Once the bridge had been fully extinguished, the Shepherds collectively agreed that repairing the bridge was the right decision. The two wagons were brought forward so that they were near the riverbank and the Shepherds began the task of setting up a camp that would last them a few days.

* * *

[That was some battle. Glad everyone got out of it relatively fine]

~We got lucky I'd say. If they had swarmed any one of the groups we would have been in serious trouble~

[You knew they wouldn't though, right? They always attack whoever is closest or whoever attacked them last. Well, once they're away from their commander]

~Commander? Do you mean that Risen with the bastard sword?~

[Yeah, him and the big one with the axe when you guys first fought them. Risen that are near the commanders actually act somewhat intelligently, but otherwise they just attack whatever is nearest]

~Are you sure? I'd suspected there was something like that going on, but I couldn't be confident yet~

[Pretty sure. I've gone through your memories of the battles a number of times and it fits. I figured that if I can't fight with you all, I can at least help plan…]

* * *

A few days later the bridge's temporary reconstruction had been completed under Frederick and Stahl's directions, and Anders was more than ready to resume the journey north. Even though they had halted their march, the last few days had been more physically taxing than before they had stopped. Everyone had participated in the repair efforts during the day and Frederick had increased the intensity of his normal training schedule since there was no need for many of the evening camp activities that they performed normally. Anders and Robin were better off than most of the Shepherds since they could swap whenever they got tired, but even they had been eager to be done with the project.

"So are you thinking of taking up the axe?" Anders joked as he and Sumia were once again taking up the rear of the convoy. The Shepherds had started the day by slowly crossing the bridge so as to reduce the strain on their repairs, but everyone had made it to the other side without any issues. "You were getting pretty good at chopping up all that wood that we needed."

"No thank you! I don't think I would survive lessons from 'Teach,' as he's been calling himself lately," Sumia replied with a small smile. "Speaking of weapon lessons though, how has it been training with Virion?"

Anders frowned at the question, "It's going fairly well I guess. I'm able to hit the center of the target most of the time, but I'm just too slow. Virion can shoot at almost twice the rate that I can while being just as or more accurate than me. He roped me into playing chess with him after and beat me there too. Robin played him a couple times and at least she was able to get close to winning. I was completely routed in our games."

"Oh, well it sounds like you just need more practice! I've been training with Frederick and he says I'm getting better. Or at least I am when I'm not tripping over my own feet…"

"You did well in that fight against the Risen, though. Robin glanced at you guys a couple of times and she saw you take one out."

"That's only because the captain was distracting it," Sumia answered glumly. "All I did was stand behind him and Vaike and poke at them every once and awhile."

"That's more than I can-" Anders started to reply when he was cut off by a shout of alarm from up ahead. "What now? We've barely left the bridge!" The wagon that they were following came to a halt and when they reached its driver they saw that Stahl was as confused as they were.

Before they could move any farther up the line, Sully rode up and stopped her horse directly in front of them. "Sumia, get in the wagon. There's something ahead that you don't want to see," the cavalier said in a strained voice. When she saw that Sumia was hesitating, Sully added, "Captain's orders."

"What's going on?" Anders asked perplexed. It clearly wasn't an emergency since no one was grabbing their weapons, but he couldn't imagine what could be up ahead that Chrom wouldn't want Sumia to see.

Sully jabbed a thumb over her shoulder behind her, "You can go see if you have to, but she stays right here. Stahl, keep an eye on her." Stahl seemed just as lost as the other two, but nodded at the orders regardless.

Anders and Sumia shared a bewildered look before she shrugged and gestured ahead of them. "You go see what the fuss is about. I guess I'll get in so we can start moving again."

"Uh okay. See you in a bit then?" Anders said hesitantly before resuming heading up the road towards whatever the disturbance was. Apparently she'd been satisfied with Sumia and Stahl's answers since Sully joined him on the way back to the front of the convoy. He immediately spotted Chrom and Frederick standing on the right side of the road staring at something on the ground and moved to join them.

"What's going on? Why'd you want Sumia to stay-" Anders started to ask but stopped short when he saw what the other two were examining. "Oh."

Lying on the ground was the remains of a pure white horse that had been dead for most of a day, though it was hard to tell exactly how long it had been because of how little of it was left. Scavengers had descended on the animal at some point, so several of its bones had been exposed and picked clean. The horse's left flank had been left largely untouched by the scavengers, but Anders guessed that was only because it had been completely charred. Attached to the horse's back were two large wings and all of the feathers on the left wing had been completely burned off.

"Is that… a pegasus?" Anders asked in horror. As with wyverns, he couldn't remember ever seeing one of the creatures before, but Sumia had described the majestic animals in great detail to him on multiple occasions.

"It is," Frederick confirmed. "Though I'm not normally one for such things, I must say this is an ill omen."

Chrom sighed, "I don't disagree, but there's no sense in lingering here. I got Lissa and Ricken to get in the first wagon when we spotted it, so we should continue if Sumia is out of sight as well." When Sully nodded in confirmation, Chrom waved to Virion in the driver's seat of the head wagon and the convoy slowly started moving again.

"Oh shit," Anders said as realization dawned on him. "The Risen that got away did this, didn't it?"

"That's what we were thinking as well," Chrom replied glumly. "I still don't disagree with Robin's decision in the fight, but I wish this could have been avoided."

"Should we… bury it?" Anders hesitantly asked. "I know how important pegasi are to Ylisse. Is that something that's normally done?"

"Yes, but I still hate to halt right after we finally got moving again. We've already lost more time than I would have liked fixing the bridge. I suppose it must be done though."

Sully finally spoke up, "You all go ahead, I'll stay behind with Anders and we'll handle it. We can catch up on Cain when we're done."

Chrom looked relieved at Sully's suggestion, "Good thinking. Grab the shovels and we'll see you in a little while. Thank you."

Before Virion could move his wagon any farther away, Anders ran up to him and asked Lissa to pass him two of the shovels from within. From the look of gratitude on the cleric's face, Anders guessed that she fully knew the reason for both the stop and request. Once he'd received the now familiar tools, Anders returned to the now dismounted Sully's side and turned to watch the convoy slowly roll past them.

"C'mon, let's get started," Sully said as she took one of the shovels from him and dug it into the hard ground. Nodding, Anders did likewise and the two slowly began to make progress on their task. Neither felt like talking as they worked, so the area was silent apart from the sounds of the shovels breaking ground and the river in the distance.

Once the pair had deemed that the hole was deep enough, they gingerly picked the animal's remains to move it into the grave. Anders was surprised by how much lighter the pegasus was than he'd expected, even accounting for how much of it was missing. He figured that the animal must have hollow bones like a bird and decided he would ask Sumia about it later. Even considering the weight, carrying the pegasus was an awkward task as they tried to move it without doing any more damage to the remains. Eventually they were able to reverently deposit the pegasus into its grave and slowly filled the hole back up with dirt. When they had finished, Anders wasn't sure if he should say anything over the grave so he followed Sully's lead and the pair looked at the site for a minute in silence.

Eventually Sully broke their vigil and said in a rough voice as she moved back to Cain's side, "You did good. Let's catch up with the others." Anders just nodded as she mounted and he moved over to her side. Once she had gotten settled, Sully helped Anders behind her and the two resumed their journey north. Cain's speed easily outpaced the convoy's so it took Sully and Anders less than a half hour to catch up with the rest of the Shepherds. Anders quickly found that a gloom had fallen over the group and the Shepherds were almost completely silent for the rest of the day's march.

* * *

Five days after leaving the bridge, Anders sighed in relief when the Shepherds stopped in front of the fort that held the entrance into Regna Ferox. Between finding the pegasus and the growing chill as they had gotten closer to Ferox, the second half of the journey had been significantly more somber than the first. Once the initial shock had passed, Anders had largely gotten over the pegasus but many of the other Shepherds were still clearly affected by it. He had also discovered that he wasn't particularly bothered by the cold and he was starting to suspect he was from some remote northern village in Ferox, though he hadn't told anyone other than Robin about his suspicions. His theory was partially supported by his slow and methodical use of a bow which he assumed would be the style to use while hunting. Anders was starting to hope that they would find something in the country that would trigger a lost memory and he would at least get a clue as to his origins.

Chrom and Frederick had gone ahead of everyone else to announce their presence to the border guards at the Longfort while the rest of the Shepherds had stayed back with the wagons. Everyone was watching the proceedings from a distance, though Anders could tell that many of them would have rather stayed inside in the wagons where it was at least a little warmer. The amnesiac was straining to hear what Chrom and Frederick were saying to the guards, but between the distance and the noise of the wind he couldn't make anything out. The person that Anders assumed to be the leader of the guards was wearing heavy armor and looked upset about somethi-

_**SAVE HIM!**_

Anders clutched his head and groaned at the sudden intrusion of the voice. In the past it had always been soft and spoken in a calming tone, but this time it had seemed like someone had screeched directly into his ear.

"Anders! Are you okay?" Lissa asked concernedly and started to hold her staff out towards him.

"I'm fine," Anders quickly said as he waved her off and frantically looked around at their surroundings. Who was 'him' and what did he need saving from? He immediately noticed that the Feroxi guards were starting to mobilize on the walls. Realization hit him when he saw that all of the guards had their attention directly on Chrom. "Oh… Everyone get ready for a fight!"

_**SAVE HIM!**_

"What do you mean?" Lissa asked when Anders winced in pain again, "Are you sure you're okay?!"

Thankfully, all of the other Shepherds had listened to the order and had readied their weapons though they seemed just as confused as Lissa. Before Anders could even try to explain, several of the guards on the wall fired arrows while four others lobbed javelins at the ground directly in front of the gate.

_**SAVE HIM!**_

As the projectiles descended towards her brother, Lissa's terrified scream cut through the chilled Feroxi air.

"Chroooommm!"


	8. Feroxi Diplomacy

_"I started to question my actions early on when events began to unravel at a rapid pace. Was I influencing too much?"_

* * *

Sumia and the rest of the Shepherds looked on in horror as the javelins and arrows neared Chrom. Her mouth was wide open to join Lissa's desperate shout with a scream of her own, but no sound would come out. Adrenaline made it seem as if time had slowed down as the deadly assault fell towards the Shepherds' captain at an almost leisurely pace, while Sumia couldn't do anything except helplessly watch. Chrom had started to turn towards the Shepherds at Lissa's scream so he hadn't made a move to dodge or even notice the danger that was looming above him. Frederick had immediately spurred his horse towards Chrom, but it was clear that the knight wouldn't be able to make it before the projectiles struck their target.

Sumia's silent scream was interrupted by Anders' frantic voice at her side as he desperately repeated the same word. "-ndwindwindwindwindwindwindwindwindwindwin-" While her eyes stayed glued to Chrom, a small part of Sumia couldn't help but wonder what Anders was trying to do. He had told her that he had absolutely zero magical potential and he didn't even have a tome so why-

"WIND!"

Ricken's scream cut through her bewildered thoughts as the accompanying mass of swirling green energy appeared directly above Chrom's head, giving the watching Shepherds an immediate sense of relief. Their hope was short lived when they saw that only half of the javelins had been successfully deflected by the magical wind. It seemed that time suddenly snapped back to normal as the one remaining arrow struck Chrom in the right shoulder while the two javelins pierced him in the side and left thigh. Chrom howled in pain and his legs gave out, dropping him on his knees directly in front of the Longfort's entrance. Frederick scooped up the barely conscious prince before Chrom could fall prone and made an immediate retreat towards the Shepherds as the Feroxi archers reached for more ammo.

Sumia was too stunned at the sight of Chrom's limp body and found that she couldn't move while the rest of the Shepherds flew into a flurry of movement as Frederick approached. Virion and Kellam retrieved several of the bedrolls from the convoy and stacked them next to Lissa as a makeshift bed. Miriel and Ricken also disappeared into the convoy and returned with the spare healing staff that the Shepherds had brought on the journey. Sully and Stahl dismounted and, along with Vaike, prepared to help lower Chrom onto the bed when Frederick arrived. Anders put on Robin's cloak without hesitation and within a few seconds Robin was standing in his place with an unnaturally blank expression as she assessed the Feroxi garrison.

When Frederick arrived, Chrom was slowly lowered to the bed as he weakly groaned and blood started to pool in the indents he made on the bed. Lissa immediately began to extract the weapons from her brother, not stopping to wipe away her tears and paying no attention to the sobbing hiccups that were wracking her entire body. Sumia faintly remembered learning that the source of a wound needed to be removed before the healing process could begin. Otherwise there was a risk that the healing magic would simply regrow around the item. Immediately starting the healing process might staunch the bleeding, but would frequently cause more harm in the long run.

Sumia was broken out of her shock induced thoughts when Robin's voice sharply cut through the tense air. "Frederick. What happened." Sumia winced at the tactician's gravelly voice and saw that despite Robin's seemingly calm demeanor, the tactician was nearly shaking with rage.

Unlike Robin, Frederick wasn't even trying to hide his fury as he spoke through gritted teeth. "The knave in charge accused us of being brigands! When I spoke in our defense, she said that we would settle the matter the Feroxi way and attacked!"

"Is that so?" Robin asked in a dangerously low tone. "Then that's how we'll settle it."

There was a chorus of agreement from the rest of the Shepherds, but Sumia just tried to make herself smaller. She had barely been able to fight against mindless monsters so she didn't see how she could possibly help against trained soldiers. She was sure that there was no way that she would be anything but a hindrance to the rest of the Shepherds in a fight.

Unaware of Sumia's inner turmoil, Robin began her briefing. "The Longfort used to be a Yillesian outpost so it's not meant to be defended against attacks from this side, which means that we'll be able to take the courtyard easily. Kellam, I want you to go in first and take out a couple of them before they notice you. Everyone else follow him in once the Feroxi retaliate. Anyone with ranged capabilities needs to focus on taking out those archers. Once they're out of the picture we've as good as won.

"What is your plan for their commander?" Virion asked softly as he glanced down at Chrom's unconscious form. The archer seemed more concerned than anything, which was a direct contrast to the anger that had gripped the rest of the Shepherds.

"They're going to come to us and that's how we'll beat them," Robin said confidently. "I want you all to be throwing out every barb you can think of as we fight. Insult their country. Question their honor. Make comments about their mothers for all I care. I want them as mad as us."

"Not possible," Sully growled.

Robin firmly nodded and looked down at Lissa, who was continuing to treat Chrom without any sign that she was listening. After watching Lissa's efforts for several seconds, the tactician slowly exhaled and her shoulders had slumped slightly when she turned back to the rest of the Shepherds. "As much as I hate to say it, we are still on a diplomatic mission. Chrom would want us to continue that mission in the hopes that their leaders are more reasonable than these idiots. Do your best not to kill any of them." There were some disgruntled mutters, but none of the Shepherds objected to the order. They all knew full well that Robin was correct and that superseded their desire for payback. Content that the Shepherds wouldn't go overboard, Robin added, "One last thing, can anyone else use a staff?" Though she addressed all the Shepherds, Robin looked hopefully at Miriel though the mage shook her head.

"Um, I can…" Sumia said hesitantly, then quickly added, "But I'm not very good!" She had barely touched a staff since her original lessons at the pegasus knight academy and wasn't confident with her skills with one. Her nerves only got worse when she saw the palpable look of relief on Robin's face.

"Any skill at all would be useful," Robin reassured, "Grab one of the staves and stay in the back of the fighting. Hold onto your lance just in case, but hopefully you won't have to use either." Sumia rushed off to grab the spare staff, doing her best not to lose her footing, and heard Robin continue to address the rest of the Shepherds. "Let's go then before they're ready for us. Let's do this for Chrom!"

"For Chrom!" The Shepherds loudly echoed and started to march towards the Longfort's courtyard. Sumia reached Lissa's side and hesitantly grabbed the spare staff that Miriel and Ricken had set down next to her. She briefly considered swapping it out with the staff that Lissa was using since she knew this one was fresh, but didn't want to interrupt the healing process that Lissa was still immersed in. Besides, Lissa's staff was still glowing brightly so Sumia decided that it must still have plenty of power left.

Before she returned to Robin's side Sumia apprehensively glanced at the Exalted siblings and almost lost the small amount of courage that she had built up. Chrom's face was deathly pale and covered in sweat, and he was completely still apart from the agonizingly slow rise and fall of his chest. Lissa's efforts had already stopped most of the bleeding, but there was no indication of how serious his internal injuries still were. Lissa was still shuddering slightly from her silent sobs as she crouched over her brother and continued the healing process. Unsure of what else she could do, Sumia put a hand on the cleric's shoulder and gave it what she hoped was a comforting squeeze, but the cleric made no reaction. After a second Sumia managed to tear herself away from the sight and saw that Robin was softly speaking to Frederick a few feet away. The knight's expression had softened significantly compared to his previous rage and he was nodding gratefully to Robin.

When Robin noticed Sumia holding the spare staff, the tactician gestured towards the rest of the Shepherds and said, "C'mon, we should catch up with the others." Sumia hurried to Robin's side, noting that Frederick wasn't moving and was instead maintaining a watch over Chrom and Lissa. Robin must have noticed where Sumia was looking because she softly explained as they walked towards the fort, "I told Frederick to stay back and guard them. They shouldn't be in any danger, but I don't think he would be able to fight knowing they were exposed."

Sumia nodded meekly and tried to remember everything she had ever learned about the healing arts while they walked, desperately hoping that she hadn't oversold her abilities. She recalled that she had generally had better luck activating a staff while her eyes were closed, but quickly discarded that idea. It wasn't a practical choice while walking, much less in a fight. Instead Sumia stared directly at the orb atop the staff and did her best to ignore her surroundings apart from making sure that she stayed at Robin's side. After a few seconds of concentration she was rewarded with a warm feeling that was greedily grabbed onto. As soon as she touched that warmth, Sumia was relieved to see the top of the staff begin to glow a pale blue.

"Well done." Robin's comment cut through Sumia's concentration and made her stumble slightly. Thankfully she managed to keep her grasp on the staff's power and the item continued to glow when she looked towards the tactician. The encouraging smile that Robin was giving her was a sharp contrast to the stone-faced anger that she had been wearing a minute ago, and Sumia managed to give a small smile in reply. "It looks like the others have already started, which I suppose isn't too surprising. Let's see if they need any help." With that the tactician picked up the pace to a slow jog which Sumia carefully matched.

When the pair reached the entrance to the courtyard, Sumia looked around to see if any of the Shepherds had been injured. Everyone still seemed healthy and none of Feroxi that had been in the courtyard were still standing. She did notice that Stahl had dismounted towards the edge of the courtyard and was rummaging through his saddlebags. Sumia gave Robin a questioning look and then headed over towards him once Robin had nodded. Before she had gotten more than a few feet, she heard Robin shout 'Thunder' so Sumia picked up the pace while trying not to listen to the crass comments that Sully was making about the size of Feroxi's members.

Once Sumia had gotten within a few feet of the cavalier, she hesitantly called out when it appeared that he still hadn't noticed her. "Um, are you okay Stahl?"

Stahl's head shot up and he gave her a sheepish grin, "One of their archers nicked me. I figured I would use one of my dad's salves to treat it, but I guess I forgot to pack it. Seems that I won't need it anyway since you're here."

"R-right," Sumia said nervously and moved closer to examine the wound while trying to remember exactly what steps were needed to use the magic from a healing staff. It had been almost a year since she had last used one and the wounds that she had dealt with back then had been nothing more than a scratch. Thankfully, Stahl's injury didn't go much beyond that and the shallow cut on his left shoulder had almost stopped bleeding already. Sumia still had her firm mental grasp on the staff's power, but couldn't seem to move beyond that. She was sure that you had to move the energy into the wound, but the magic stubbornly refused to move beyond the confines of the stone orb that it was stored in. Her grasp on the staff's magic was even starting to loosen and mass of power that she was accessing seemed to shrink. Furrowing her eyebrows, Sumia redoubled her efforts and tried to mentally shove the-

"Uh, is everything okay there Sumia?" Stahl's question broke Sumia's concentration and the staff's glow flickered out as her tenuous hold on the magic was lost.

"Sorry!" Sumia hurriedly apologized, "I'm trying to remember how this works… the magic doesn't want to cooperate…"

"Oh," Stahl paused for several seconds while he scanned the Longfort's courtyard. "Well take your time. It doesn't look like either of us are needed right now."

Sumia nodded and tried to once again reach for the staff's magic while glumly thinking about what Stahl had said. It came as no surprise to her that she wasn't needed during a battle. From what she'd seen on the trip so far, the rest of the Shepherds were well enough trained that they could take on most opponents in a one on one fight without any risk of getting hurt. Despite her own lack of physical prowess, she had watched Cordelia train enough times that she was able to recognize other peoples' skills easily enough. In direct contrast, Sumia barely survived her training sessions with Sully and probably spent more time on the ground than she did practicing. Even when she was charged with helping set up camp she was almost useless and had to rely on the others for any task apart than caring for the horses.

Sumia was suddenly filled with a warm feeling that seemed to drive away her torrent of negative thoughts. When she had first accessed the staff's power, it had felt as if she had been holding one hand near a cozy fire, but now it felt like she had been fully submerged in a warm and soothing bath. The feeling was familiar and she realized with chagrin that this had been the forgotten step in the healing process. It wasn't possible to move the magic directly from the staff into the injured party since it needed to go through the healer, who acted as a conduit for the magic. Though she was still slightly annoyed at herself for forgetting in the first place, Sumia resumed her full efforts to concentrating and managed to transfer the healing power from her body and into Stahl's cut. Her mood continued to improve despite the loss of the magical warmth as she watched the wound slowly knit itself back together until there was no trace of it apart from a small amount of blood on Stahl's clothes.

"Great job Sumia!" Stahl praised while examining his shoulder. "I knew you could do it!"

"You're welcome!" Sumia replied cheerfully before apologetically adding, "I'm sorry it took so long."

"It's really fine. I was watching while you were working and it looks like all of their archers have been taken care of. I think we're just waiting for them to come into the courtyard now. Speaking of, I should join everyone else for that part of Robin's plan." Stahl quickly remounted his horse as he spoke and started to trot back towards the rest of the Shepherds. Raising his voice, he called up towards the raised section of the Longfort. "When was the last time you bathed? Cause we're upwind and I still think I smell something!"

Sumia couldn't help softly giggling at Stahl's attempt to taunt the Feroxi while looking around the courtyard. The cavalier's previous statement had been accurate and the Shepherds were the only ones left standing; all of the Feroxi guards that had been in the courtyard were now lying unconscious on the ground. She briefly considered healing them as well, but decided to check with Robin first. Apart from being slow, she hadn't messed up so far today and didn't intend to start now.

While Sumia made her way over to Robin, Vaike had gotten frustrated enough at the wait that he had decided to bring out the heavy weaponry. He started to sing what was easily the most bawdy thing that Sumia had ever heard. The song seemed to be a detailed retelling of all of the acts that he had supposedly performed with the mothers of the Feroxi soldiers, which was made even worse by how poor of a singing voice the man had.

Doing her best to ignore Vaike's song, Sumia quickly made her way to Robin's side trying to gather her courage. "Um, Robin?" It wasn't that she was afraid of Robin in any way, rather that Sumia was apprehensive of giving the tactician suggestions on the battlefield. When Robin turned to face her with a questioning look, Sumia quickly blurted out her question. "Should I heal them too? You said that we should try not to kill them so..." Sumia looked around the courtyard as she trailed off, partially to count the fallen Feroxi troops and partially to avoid looking at Robin.

"That's not a bad idea…" Robin responded thoughtfully, "At the very least it would enforce the idea that we aren't bandits. Sure, why don't you do that and take Stahl with you just in case-"

"That's enough out of you brigands!" Came a woman's shout from behind the Longfort's gates. "I'll throw you out of here myself!" The large door slowly creaked outwards to reveal a woman weaving heavy armor and holding a lance. She was flanked by several axeman and all four of them had murderous expressions.

"...Actually hold off on that for now," Robin said as she reopened her tome with a ponderous expression while examining the oncoming Feroxi. "Huh. I would have thought that there would be more of them in there." Nodding slightly, Sumia stepped back as the Feroxi approached the Shepherds and made sure she still had a solid grip on both her staff and lance.

Just as the Feroxi guards were reaching the melee Shepherds, Sumia barely heard Frederick's voice bellow her name. "Um, Robin?"

"I heard. We'll be fine. Go!" Robin quickly ordered without turning her attention away from the fight. Sumia hesitated for a second, then ran out of the courtyard towards where the Shepherds had left the convoy and three of their members. As she got closer, she could see that Chrom was still lying on the bedrolls, but Lissa was now slumped over next to him. Frederick was still standing above the siblings and even though he marginally relaxed when he saw Sumia approaching, he was still the most tense that she had ever seen him.

"What... happened?!" Sumia gasped and knelt at the side of the Exalted siblings while quickly accessing her staff's power.

"Lissa's staff made a loud popping noise and then the orb disintegrated," Frederick answered, trying to keep his voice neutral but ultimately failing as it cracked. "It looked like she continued to heal Chrom, but then collapsed. Please, do whatever you can…"

A glance at Lissa's side confirmed that her staff was now a shattered piece of wood, but that couldn't be right. Sumia had even checked to make sure that Lissa's staff had plenty of power left-

All of the confidence that Sumia had gained vanished in an instant as she realized her mistake. Lissa's staff hadn't been glowing brightly because it still had plenty of power left. It had been that bright because it had so many cracks that all of the magical light had been spilling out. Sumia frantically pulled some of her staff's power into herself to restart the healing job and this time the warmth of the magic did nothing to make her feel better.

Sumia had never been taught how to gauge a person's health, so she was completely in the dark for how injured either of the siblings were. Seeing no other option, she sent the magical energy she was currently holding into Chrom, then withdrew more from her staff and sent it into Lissa. She quickly fell into a pattern of alternating which of the siblings was receiving the healing magic as she dumped as much of the power into them as possible. Her only thoughts during the process were numbly trying to figure out how she could possibly apologize enough to both of them.

* * *

Chrom softly groaned as he awoke and was surprised to realize that he had no idea where he was. He recalled the Shepherds reaching the Feroxi border and going with Frederick to go talk with them, but he couldn't seem to remember how that had turned out. The one thing he was confident of was that he was inside a moving wagons judging from the jostling. He could also hear two hushed voices right next to him so he slowly opened his eyes and sat up to try to see what was going on. The action was much more strenuous than normal and his vision swam for a second before he could take in his surroundings.

He was definitely in the back of one of the Shepherds' wagons and when he looked down he saw that he had been lying on a small pile of bedrolls. Immediately next to his resting place was another stack of the bedrolls that Lissa was on top of. His sister had half-pushed herself up so that she was lounging on them as she softly talked to Sumia, who was sitting on a crate next to Lissa's makeshift bed.

Sumia immediately sat up straighter and cut off whatever she had been saying when she noticed that Chrom was awake. "Captain Chrom! You're okay!"

Before Chrom could react, Lissa flopped over on her bedrolls so that she was facing him instead of Sumia. "Geez Chrom, you had me a bit worried!" Lissa exclaimed while maintaining her usual cheerful demeanor, "I thought you were going to wake up _hours_ ago, but I guess you just wanted to laze around in bed for a bit."

"Uh, sorry?" Chrom apologized hesitantly. "What's going on? Last thing I remember is getting to the fort."

Lissa softly hummed and nodded, "That's not too surprising. There was a, um, misunderstanding at the border and you got hurt. Robin and everyone else dealt with it though, so you don't need to worry about it! We're on our way to meet with the Khan now."

Chrom sat back slightly and pondered that information. "That's good news, I suppose. Why are you two in here as well?"

Sumia's head dropped and she mumbled slightly, "Lissa was healing you after got hurt, but then she-"

"I got a little carried away and wore myself and my staff out," Lissa cut in. "Sumia took over after that and everyone helped me in here so I could rest. She was watching over us while we recovered."

"I didn't know you could use healing staves, Sumia, that's great!" The woman seemed oddly uncomfortable at Chrom's praise, though he decided to chalk it up to her inexperience.

"I didn't know either!" Lissa exclaimed and glanced back at Sumia. "I'm going to help teach her how to use them so the Shepherds will have two healers. Three once Mari comes back!"

There was some rustling of the wagon's covering flaps and Robin's head poked in with a relieved expression. "Good, I thought I heard voices. I'm glad to see you're both up and about."

Chrom gave a startled shake of his head and wondered how badly he had been injured. "Robin, what happened at the border? Lissa only said that there was a misunderstanding and I was injured."

"The Feroxi commander, Raimi, got a little overzealous in her job and thought we were bandits. It turns out that's something they've had issues with lately as well, so she assumed the worst when we arrived." Robin shrugged, "She's actually not that bad once we were able to calm her down. She's escorting us now and we should be arriving in just a few minutes. So make yourself presentable." With that Robin withdrew and he heard her say something else which was answered by some cheers.

Chrom rolled his eyes at that and looked down at himself to see what would be needed to be 'presentable.' He immediately saw that he was going to have to change clothes since what he was wearing had several bloodstains and a small hole on his left side. He experimentally poked himself through the hole in his shirt. Whatever wound had been there had been completely healed away nothing hurt, though the skin did feel oddly smooth. When he looked up he saw that Lissa and Sumia were eyeing him expectantly. Frowning slightly at the attention, Chrom spoke up, "Mind giving me the cart? It seems I'll need to change."

While the two left, Chrom slowly extracted himself from his bed and stretched. He felt a little sore and his legs were somewhat wobbly, but it wasn't anything that he couldn't handle on his own. He quickly located a change of clothes and had finished changing just as the movement of the wagon came to a halt. When it became evident that it wasn't a temporary stop, Chrom moved to the back of the wagon and jumped out after making sure there was solid ground beneath him. He winced slightly as a small pain ran through his legs when he landed, but managed to keep his footing.

"I'm heartened to see milord is so spry after his recovery," Frederick commented dryly from nearby.

Chrom smiled at the knight and joked, "Just making sure everything still works." The knight's expression quickly turned dark and Chrom's mirth instantly disappeared. "Wait, was that a concern?"

Frederick quickly returned to his neutral expression, "Of course not milord. I was merely upset at the reminder of your wounds. Now, I believe you have a meeting to attend."

"Right…" Chrom said, uncertain. Something wasn't adding up with how everyone was acting after he had awoken, but he wasn't sure what it meant. He mentally shrugged, there were much more important matters at hand and he could always ask around later. "Do you know where Robin is? I saw her a couple minutes ago."

"Over here Chrom," Robin called from the front of the wagon so Chrom made his way towards her voice and saw the rest of the Shepherds looking at him expectantly. "We were expecting you to leave at this end and not to leap out of the back."

"Ah. Well it's good to see that everyone is well," Chrom said awkwardly while he glanced at the assembled Shepherds. Seeing that they were all still watching him, he added, "Well done at the border for whatever you did that convinced them to let us through." To his surprise, everyone's gaze immediately shifted off of him at the comment and either went to Vaike or the ground. He would definitely have to ask about _that_ later.

Robin coughed slightly, "Uh yes. Well done everyone. Now, we really should be going Chrom." When the prince nodded, Robin turned and walked away from the convoy with Chrom and Frederick close behind. Now that they were moving, Chrom finally took the time to examine their surroundings and immediately spotted a large circular structure ahead of them that dwarfed any building in Ylisstol. Oddly, there weren't any other permanent structures that he could see and the area was instead full of tents and temporary market stalls.

"What is this place?" Chrom asked, annoyed at himself for not knowing. He didn't have an excuse for not asking Robin, or even Anders, about the details of their destination over the course of their journey.

"That's the Arena Ferox," Robin explained as they weaved their way through the unorganized mess of tents and towards the large arena. "It's where the Feroxi people hold their cultural events, but no one lives here when there isn't something going on. Some of their events are so large that a whole city will appear for a week and then be gone the next."

Chrom nodded and continued to examine their surroundings as they moved. If you discounted the tents and the lack of clear roads, it was almost like walking through Ylisstol. He could hear merchants hawking their wares while children ran around playing games with each other. After more than a week in the countryside, the smells of such a large group of people was almost overwhelming. He noted some tantalizing aromas that he guessed were from someone cooking a Feroxi dish that he didn't recognize, but it smelt delicious despite the unfamiliarity. He was slightly disappointed when Robin stopped in front of a rather large tent and he promised himself that he would take the time to explore more of the impromptu city once their business had finished.

Frederick cleared his throat, then loudly announced them, "Prince Chrom of Ylisse and his tactician, lady Robin."

Chrom couldn't stop himself from raising an eyebrow at Frederick's introduction of Robin, but he quickly did his best to make his expression neutral when she glanced at him. Thankfully, the occupant of the tent distracted Robin when a woman's voice answered back with a casual, "Yeah, come in." Chrom took a second to steel himself then pushed through the tent-flap with Robin and Frederick close on his heels. Standing in the middle of the room was an imposing woman wearing light armor and was regarding them curiously. Next to her was a large table with several stacks of vellum atop it and a broadsword leaning against it.

"I am the East-Khan, Flavia," the woman introduced herself as she walked up to them. "First of all, I want to apologize for the troubles at the border, Prince Chrom. You are welcome in Regna Ferox."

Chrom nodded graciously at the apology. "Thank you. I'm hoping that we can quickly put that incident behind us and grow to avoid any such mishaps in the future."

"You don't need to worry about that," the Khan assured them. "_Watchwoman_ Raimi won't be making any sort of decisions like that again."

"You demoted her because she attacked me?" Chrom asked curiously. "I can't say that I'm upset about it, but…"

"Nah, as stupid as that was, she was only doing her job." Flavia replied before groaning, "I'm demoting her because she and those other idiots abandoned their post just because you all said mean things about their mommies."

"...We did what?" Chrom said incredulously and looked at Robin, who had suddenly found the ground very interesting.

"We didn't have any way of assaulting the Feroxi side of the Longfort so I told everyone to insult them so that they would come to us," Robin explained as she slowly looked up to nervously return Chrom's gaze. "Sully and Vaike got pretty… uh creative."

Before he could think of a reply, Chrom was interrupted by rambunctious laughter from Flavia. "Now those are some tactics that I can get behind!" The Khan exclaimed then stopped to look thoughtfully at Robin. "You know, I could probably use that sort of quick thinking in tomorrow's Clash."

"That's tomorrow?!" Robin yelped in surprise. "I knew it had to be soon, but I never would have thought it was tomorrow!"

"Unusually well informed as well. Outsiders normally don't keep track of our holidays at all," Flavia said approvingly. She paused for a second before continuing thoughtfully, "Hmm, actually fielding a full team of the Ylissean Shepherds wouldn't be a bad idea. It would certainly surprise the oaf…"

Chrom absently scratched at his side and winced at the small jolt of pain that he was rewarded with. "Unfortunately I'm not as knowledgeable," he admitted. "What are we talking about?"

"There's a tournament between the eastern and western Khans every three years or so. Whoever's team wins becomes the Khan Regnant and gets to make any decisions that affect Regna Ferox as a whole," Robin explained.

Chrom glanced at Flavia for confirmation and she nodded, "And you want us to fight for you? I would have assumed Ylisseans had no place in such Feroxi traditions."

The Khan chuckled, "On the contrary! We've always used champions and generally use outsiders to stop anyone from taking anything that happens too personally. Although the outsiders have never included foreign royalty as far as I know."

"Milord-" Frederick started to protest, but Chrom quickly cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"Sorry, but I don't believe that I'd be up for a large scale fight tomorrow." Chrom apologized, "Lissa would throw a fit if I even tried."

"Ah, I suppose you wouldn't be," Flavia conceded. After a moment's pause she added hopefully, "She's your sister, right? Could she join the fight in your place?"

Robin quickly cut in before Flavia could get her hopes up. "I'm afraid not. She wore herself out yesterday while healing Chrom so I wouldn't want to put her on a battlefield already. Besides, the tournament is a series of one on one fights, correct?" When Flavia nodded, Robin shrugged, "In that case having a cleric in the match would only hurt our odds of winning. Nothing against Lissa, but I don't see her winning a fight against… well anyone. Instead, why don't we have her nearby as a ready resource to heal anyone who's injured. Blunted weapons are used in the competition, but I'm sure that there will be plenty of nasty bruises by the time it's done."

Chorm briefly considered saying no to the suggestion, he wasn't thrilled with the idea of putting Lissa to work after how much energy she'd apparently expended. However, Flavia did seem pretty desperate to have at least one of the Ylissean royalty involved and they did need to do whatever they could to make sure that they were on her good side. Besides, it wasn't like Lissa would be in any danger and he assumed that there would be other healers nearby so she wouldn't be overworked. Sighing he said, "I suppose that would be fine if she agrees. She'll need a new staff though if you have any spares, she broke hers while healing me."

Flavia grinned greedily at Chrom's approval of the plan, "You can have as many staves as you want! Oh, this is really going to throw that oaf off when he sees who I've got in my corner!"

"Speaking of," Robin interjected. "What can you tell us about our opponents? If I remember correctly we get to field six men to their seven since they're the reigning champions."

Flavia whistled appreciatively and slapped Chrom on the back, making him wince again. "Your tactician is outstanding, she really knows her stuff! If your other Shepherds are nearly as good at their jobs as she is hers, then there's no way we can lose!" When she saw Robin's raised eyebrows, Flavia waved her hand dismissively. "From what I've heard he's going to be using the same team as last time. He's got an armored knight, two mages, an archer, an axeman, and two swordsmen. None of those louts are notable except for one of the swordsmen. Talk is that he's from Chon'sin and I can personally vouch for his skills. In the last tournament he took out a few of my champions by himself."

"He sounds like quite the worthy opponent," Chrom said appreciatively, wishing that he would have gotten the opportunity to participate in the fight. He suddenly realized that they hadn't explicitly established the reason for Shepherds to help and quickly added, "And if we win and you become Khan Regnant, can Ylisse count on Regna Ferox for aid in turn?"

"_If_ you win? I think it's closer to _when_ you win," the Khan grinned, then quickly turned serious. "Yes of course, you can count on it. If it had been up to me, I would have extended an offer of an alliance some time ago. We've had bandit problems of our own and it only makes sense to stamp out the issue at the source."

Chrom blanched at the suggestion and hurriedly clarified, "We're more looking for a defensive pact at this point. My sister certainly has no intent of instigating another war."

Flavia shrugged, unphased by Chrom's statement. "That's fine as well. A united front would still be useful."

Chrom relaxed, "Then it's settled. Tomorrow we'll earn you your title and our two countries will enter a new age of cooperation." He glanced at Robin and smiled when the tactician nodded her approval. "We'll take our leave then, Khan Flavia. We better inform the Shepherds of the plan immediately so that we can make sure that everyone is best prepared for the arena."

* * *

[Did you _really_ volunteer Lissa to stand at the sidelines of the tournament?]

~Yes? Why, what's wrong with that?~

[We've been in four fights so far and three of them have been pretty traumatic for her. And now you want her to stand ten feet away from her friends being hurt without being able to do anything about it.]

~...Damn it, you're right. I was trying to prove our value to Flavia and maybe even the other Khan's if we were to heal his injured troops as well. I don't suppose we could just tell Lissa that we changed our mind?~

[Not a chance. Chrom said he was going to go talk to her after the meeting and she's going to say yes. She'll agree immediately if he tells her that it'll increase the odds that we can secure the alliance.]

~You're probably right. Maybe we could have Ricken stay with her during the fight for moral support?~

[I think that would work. Speaking of, who are you planning on having fight? I see that Ricken is already out of the running.]

~I've got some ideas, but haven't fully decided yet. Who do you think it should be?~

[You and Frederick obviously. Then Miriel to deal with their knight and Virion to handle the mage? Kellam would be pretty good assuming that he doesn't get spotted by their mages. After that it's either Sully or Vaike for the last slot.]

~What about Sumia and Stahl? And Ricken for completeness sake.~

[I don't really think Sumia is ready for a fight this important and it's probably a good idea to have our second healer stay with Chrom just in case. Stahl is great, but I feel like if we're going to have a second cavalier then Sully would be the better choice. And with both you and Miriel, Ricken feels a bit redundant. Plus I don't think Wind magic will be as useful as Fire and Lighting here.]

~Well said. I'm leaning towards Vaike for our last choice simply because of their swordsman. If you'll recall from the primer I was reading a few days ago, cavalry are fairly common in Valm so I'd bet he's got plenty of experience fighting them.~

[Sure, that makes sense. Let's not play into his strengths if we can avoid it.]

~I'll make a strategist out of you yet. Now if only either of us could figure out how to beat Virion at chess.~

[I just wish I could help out in other ways… I suppose it wouldn't be the best idea for you to bring a bow and swap me in if we needed a second archer for some reason.]

~Yes, that probably wouldn't be ideal. I know Flavia wants a spectacle but that might be taking it too far. Huh, I wonder if that would be breaking the six person limit...~

[Probably. I doubt we could get a ruling on it beforehand and who knows how the crowd would react anyway. Did you want to finish your prep now or in the morning?]

~Morning I think. It's been a rough couple of days so I could use some "sleep." Swap me in a couple hours before dawn?~

[Will do. Guess I'll keep reading Mad Tales unless there's something you want me to review overnight?]

~I don't think so, but thanks for the offer. Goodnight.~

Anders briefly considered replying but decided that swapping to say one word would be pointless. With a sigh he opened his novel and once again read from candlelight in order to wait the night away.

* * *

**A/N: I'm really sorry about the delay on this one. I had a very busy end of the year and then ended up having to make some large changes to my outline. Thanks to everyone that followed in the meantime and to Robert for betaing as usual. ****Next up is Chapter 9: The Clash of East and West.**


	9. The Clash of East and West

_"I was now aware that there were minute differences that were completely unique to this world, but I was left unsure of their source. How many of them were because of my actions?"_

* * *

When Robin walked through the tunnel and onto the main floor of the Arena Ferox she was almost blown away by the eruption of cheers from the audience. She had scouted the arena earlier that morning and had been amazed at how many people could sit in attendance, but to see those stands filled was a sight beyond compare. After a few seconds of admiring the crowd she turned her attention to Flavia's box and spotted the East-Khan sitting down with Chrom and Sumia to her right. Robin could also see Lissa and Ricken at their positions on the sidelines of the arena floor and that Lissa was clutching a brand new healing staff.

When Robin finally looked across the arena, she grinned when she saw that all seven of their opponents were standing on their end of the sidelines. While she was reviewing the rules for the tournament in the early morning, she had noticed an interesting clause stating that while the teams had to be decided before the match started, those teams did not have to be public knowledge. As such, she had instructed the rest of the Shepherds to stay behind in the darkness of the tunnel where they wouldn't be spotted, so as to maintain at least some element of surprise. Granted the effect was significantly lessened when four of the six Shepherds who weren't participating were in plain view, but Robin would gladly take any possible advantage that she could get. Sully and Stahl had been instructed to sit with the rest of the crowd, so they at least shouldn't be spotted.

Looking over at the West Feroxi champions, Robin saw that Flavia's assessment had been correct with one significant exception; Robin was shocked to see Marth standing on the other side of the arena from her instead of a Chon'sin swordsman. With everything else that had occurred over the last week she had almost forgotten about the mysterious swordsman that had aided them against the Risen on the day that she had met the Shepherds. Now that man was her opponent. Robin's eyes darted back to Chrom and saw his incredulous expression as he spoke to Sumia. When Robin returned her gaze back to Marth, she saw that the swordsman was also staring at the East-Khan's box, though Robin was unable to read his expression due to the distance and his mask.

"Welcome citizens of Regna Ferox!" A booming voice cut through the noise of the crowd and when Robin looked for the source she saw a man with two mages standing by his side. The mages appeared to be doing something with Wind magic to amplify his voice and Robin muttered to herself to investigate how that was done. She hoped that Anders would remind her if she forgot, since that would be a useful trick to know on the battlefield. Meanwhile, the crowd's cheers had only increased at the welcome and even with the aid of magic the announcer was having to raise his voice to ensure that he was heard.

"It's been three long years since our last Clash of East and West, so please allow me to review how this all works! As you all know, West-Khan Basilio won the previous Clash…" The announcer theatrically paused to allow the crowd to split between booing and continuing to cheer. Once that died down, he continued, "Which means that there will be seven champions for the west to the east's six. However, East-Khan Flavia has made a last minute change and her champions this year are the famous Ylissean Shepherds!" The cheering increased again at the announcement and Robin wondered how many of them actually knew who the Shepherds were.

"We have a last minute substitution on the west side of the field as well! Despite his showing at the last Clash, Lon'qu has been replaced by an enigmatic mercenary calling himself Marth. Marth defeated Lon'qu in single combat several days ago, so let's see if he can best the Chon'sin swordsman's performance in the Arena too!" This time, the crowd didn't seem to know how to react and there was only scattered applause. "Without any further delay, let's begin the tournament! The first champion from both sides may now enter the arena!"

Without any hesitation, the unfamiliar one of the two swordsmen drew his weapon and calmly walked to the center of the arena while Robin nodded in approval. It made sense to lead with one of the pairs of duplicate weapon specialists so your options were still open later on. The Feroxi swordsman reached the center of the arena and started to fidget slightly as he impatiently waited for his opponent to join him in the arena.

"I've been told that the tactician for the Shepherds has opted to keep her roster secret, but it's time for the first Ylissean champion to take to the field! Unfortunately you'll have to reveal who you're fielding at some point." Robin smirked at the announcer's comment and gave him a thumbs up, which only seemed to confuse him more. "Erm, I don't believe there's a penalty for being slow but-"

The announcer was cut off by a pained shout from Feroxi swordsman as he dropped to one knee and fumbled to maintain his grip on his blunted weapon. The crowd was filled with confused murmurs and even the announcer seemed to be at a loss for words for several seconds while the swordsman wildly looked around to see what had hit him.

"Oho! The Shepherd's first champion appears to be the knight Kellam! Even with his heavy armor he can be so difficult to spot that some people insist he isn't really there. Let's see how Tharm is able to handle fighting someone that he can't see!"

Robin wasn't sure if she was getting better at spotting Kellam or if it was because of how exposed he was standing in the middle of the arena, but she could see the man much easier than usual. Standing above the downed Feroxi swordsman was what looked like the outline of a suit of armor rather than the hazy air that usually signaled his presence. Robin groaned when she saw Kellam take a step away from Tharm, giving the swordsman a chance to return to his feet. Apparently she should have told him to follow up with his surprise attack and immediately finish the bout rather than trying to fight honorably.

Thankfully it seemed that it wouldn't be too much of an issue. After Tharm had regained his footing, the swordsman had started swinging his sword around wildly but had yet to even get close to hitting Kellam. Staying clear of the strikes, Kellam waited until the swordsman turned his back to the knight and then lunged forward and hit Tharm in the exact same spot on his leg. This time Kellam's opponent was able to maintain his footing despite the injury and quickly swung his sword in an arc behind himself. The sword connected with Kellam's armor but was deflected without causing injury to the Shepherd.

"Not well it would seem!" The announcer exclaimed as he resumed his commentary. "Fighting an armored opponent with a sword can be difficult at the best of times, but it might be hopeless if you can't even spot their weak points!"

Emboldened by the announcer's comments and his success so far, Kellam made another strike without waiting for an opening and hit Tharm in the middle of his chest. The swordsman's leather armor blocked most of the force from the blunted lance, but it was still enough to make the man wheeze as the air was forced out of his lungs.

"Finish him this time!" Robin yelled out, not wanting Kellam to give his opponent an opportunity to recover again. The longer the fight wore on, the more that Kellam would tire himself out and there was always a chance that Tharm would land a lucky blow. This time the knight did try to end the fight and Kellam stabbed forward again with his lance at the Feroxi's chest. Not having recovered from his previous hit yet, the swordsman doubled over at the blow and dropped his weapon as the crowd cheered.

"A strong start for the Ylissean Shepherds!" The announcer barked while several attendants rushed onto the field so that they could take Tharm over to Lissa's side. Robin glanced over at the cleric and was relieved to see that she was excitedly chatting with Ricken about the battle. Lissa quickly switched to business when the Feroxi swordsman was brought over to her and she started treating his wounds with her newly acquired staff. Robin hoped that Anders' assessment had been wrong and watching the fights wouldn't upset Lissa in the same way that the Shepherds' previous encounters had.

"Let's see which of the West champions Marth decides will be the next to fight Kellam the Invisible! Whoever it is will have to have a keen eye to even stand a chance!" Robin could see that Marth was in a hurried discussion with his companions and once the deliberation was over one of the two mages walked onto the field. "It seems that Falk will be the next champion for the West. He's a Fire specialist who can light an entire bonfire without using a tome!"

Robin frowned slightly as Falk shouted 'Fire' and a small ball of fire flew towards Kellam who had started advancing on the mage. She had expected Marth to send one of the two mages to send Kellam, but she would have guessed that the one with the Thunder tome would have been the choice. Thunder's erratic flight path was much less of an issue against slower opponents so the primary weakness of the spell was eliminated when fighting someone who was heavily armored. When the Fire spell reached Kellam, the knight brought up his shield to block it and flames flew out in all directions as it exploded.

Kellam continued towards the west side of the arena, though he had to pause every few steps when the force of another Fire spell made him halt. After the fifth block the shield must have become too hot to hold, since Kellam suddenly dropped it and reached over his shoulder to retrieve one of the javelins that was strapped to his back. The crowd had mostly been silent during Kellam's advance as many of them could only see the explosions from the Fire spells which didn't give a clear indication of what was happening. When Kellam tossed his javelin, much of the crowd shouted in surprise as the projectile appeared to come out of nowhere and flew towards Falk. The sounds from the eastern crowd quickly turned to groans when the mage sidestepped the attack and retaliated with another Fire spell, hitting Kellam in the chest.

With labored movements, Kellam retrieved the second javelin from his back and readied it rather than immediately throwing it as he had with the previous one. Falk seemed unconcerned by the shift in tactics and launched another Fire at Kellam. At the same time the Fire left the mage's hand, Kellam threw his javelin and the two projectiles met at the halfway point between the two combatants. There was another explosion of fire and the spell dissipated, but Kellam's javelin continued flying forward and hit the mage in the side.

"Incredible! Kellam managed to apply his stealth to his weapon as well!" The announcer called over the crowd's noise. "Falk couldn't see that one coming because of the flames of his own Fire spell! However, it looks like the resident firebug of Western Ferox has recovered and Kellam is out of javelins! I don't know how he'll be able to make up the remaining distance to continue the fight!"

Kellam was undeterred by the announcer's comments and resumed his march towards the mage as Fire spells continued being lobbed his way with many of them hitting their target. Unfortunately the mage was able to back up faster than Kellam could advance and there was still plenty of arena for the mage to maneuver around. The knight's armor had been hit by so many of the weak Fire spells that it was completely covered in soot, making it so that everyone in the arena could clearly see him. Kellam must have realized that he was never going to close the growing distance to the Feroxi mage, so with clear effort he threw his lance towards Falk with the last of his strength.

Unfortunately, Kellam hadn't been able to muster up enough strength and his lance clattered to the ground after only making it half of the way to mage. Almost as soon as the lance had left his hand, Kellam turned towards the sidelines and slowly trudged his way towards Lissa and Ricken. "Kellam has relinquished his weapon and forfeited the bout!" The announcer exclaimed while the crowd murmured to themselves at the odd first couple fights. "Both sides are down a single champion, but remember that means that the west has a one man advantage! Which of the Shepherds will step forward next to participate in the Clash and attempt to tie it back up?"

Even considering his defeat, Robin was very impressed with Kellam's performance in the fight. She had expected that the knight would be able to defeat his first opponent without difficulties and had figured that anything beyond that was a bonus. After all, the primary reason that she had decided to have Kellam lead the fight was for the 'wow' factor. With two mages on the opposing side, it had never been likely that he would have a favorable matchup beyond his first, but he had exceeded her expectations in both his fighting prowess and the spectacle that he caused.

Speaking of spectacle, Robin turned towards the tunnel behind her and called, "You're up Virion!"

The archer emerged from the shadows with a cocky grin. "Of course, I would hate to disappoint my adoring admirers by forcing them to wait a single second longer."

Robin snorted derisively as he walked past her and into the arena, "Focus on trying not to disappoint Chrom and me."

Virion looked back at Robin with an expression of mock shock as he retrieved an arrow from his quiver. "Perish the thought milady! In fact, I was counting you both amongst my chief admirers."

Before the tactician could retort, the announcer started the next round of introductions, "The next champion for the east is Virion! Known as the archest of archers, he joined the Shepherds to help people while dazzling them with his skills!" Robin groaned in exasperation. She had wondered where the announcer had gotten his information about Kellam, but there was no longer any question of that. She just hoped that her own introduction wasn't too awful.

Returning her concentration to the arena, Robin was pleased to see that she had been correct and that this fight was a reversal of the last. While Kellam had been forced to approach the mage in the previous round, Falk was the one who had to close the distance this time. The mage had used several Fire spells from his position at the western edge of the arena, but Virion had no difficulties sidestepping the small fireballs as they made their way over to him. On the other hand, the few yards that Virion had walked into the arena at the start of the match were more than enough to ensure that Falk was well within the archer's range.

When the west Feroxi man tried to close the distance, he was forced to dodge the volley of arrows that Virion was peppering him with. Falk was successful in avoiding the first few, but the fourth arrow caught the mage in the shoulder making him stagger backwards. Virion immediately changed his aim and his next arrow struck the mage's right hand, forcing him to drop his tome as he clutched his hand in pain.

"And Falk is disarmed!" The announcer called while Virion bowed to the cheering crowd and the mage slowly made his way to the sidelines, nursing his injured hand. This time the western side of the arena didn't hesitate and their next champion immediately lumbered onto the field. "It looks like Hugo is the next one to enter the arena. While he wears similar armor to Kellam, there's no way you could ever overlook this juggernaut!"

Virion seemed to be unconcerned by the armored man heading towards him and he flashed Robin a confident smile as he stood back up from his bow. The tactician managed to stop herself from responding with a sarcastic comment, not wanting to distract him and further lower his chances. The match as a whole was so far going according to Robin's plans and to be honest those plans didn't have Virion making it past this particular bout. The other reason that she had started with Kellam was to force her opponent into a circular trade of their units. Mages did well against armored units, who were strong against archers, who in turn did well against mages. Coincidentally, those three were the ones that Robin expected would give Frederick the most trouble, so once they were off the field the knight would be-

Robin's strategy review was interrupted by an outburst of cheers and she returned her attention to the arena. To her surprise, Virion was still unharmed while his opponent had an arrow sticking out from underneath his right arm. Hugo paused and lifted up his arm to remove the arrow, but it was immediately joined by a second arrow that hit the same exposed area. Grunting at the injury, the Feroxi lowered his arm and quickly pulled out both blood-covered arrows. Even the dulled arrows that had been provided to Virion by the Feroxi had managed to pierce the more exposed parts of the heavy armor.

Robin now gave her full attention to the fight to see how both sides would handle what was now a battle of attrition. Since it didn't look like Hugo was carrying any javelins, he would have to get into melee range with Virion before he got tired from his armor and blood loss without exposing himself to being hit by additional arrows. On the other hand, this was Virion's second fight and the Shepherds had been in a stressful battle a couple days ago after finishing a long march, so Robin suspected that he was already tired behind his bravado. She also didn't know how many arrows he had carried into the arena, but he would have to make sure that he made them all count.

The fight continued as Robin predicted for several minutes while the entire arena watched in anticipation. Hugo would make a sudden move towards Virion while moving stiffly to avoid giving the archer another openings. Whenever these charges would take place, Virion would slowly back away while simultaneously ensuring that he didn't walk out of bounds and watching the armored man. Just before he was in range of Hugo's weapon, Virion would relax the draw on his bow and sprint to another side of the arena to restart the process.

It was on the sixth repetition when Virion changed his tactics and caught his opponent off guard. Hugo had started reaching farther with his attacks in a desperate attempt to catch the archer when he fled, so Hugo was exposed when Virion didn't flee this time. Instead the archer simply hopped away from the attack and fired another arrow that logged itself underneath Hugo's arm. The Feroxi man stopped in his tracks and howled in pain as he hunched over to remove the newest sting. Unnoticed, Virion calmly walked behind the man and at the exact moment that Hugo extracted the arrow, the archer dug his left foot into the ground and kicked out with his right, hitting the injured man in his lower back. Surprised by the unexpected hit, Hugo lost his balance and stumbled forward out of the western edge of the arena that he had just chased Virion to.

"Another victory for Virion and the Shepherds!" The announcer exclaimed as the crowd erupted and Virion once again started bowing. "It's not everyday that-"

Whatever the announcer was saying was suddenly cut when a blunted hatchet flew through the air and caught Virion in the back as he was standing up, sending the archer sprawling. Before Virion could gather himself, a man stepped directly over the archer's prone form and held an axe over him. There was dead silence for a second, then the crowd erupted with boos from both ends of the arena.

"Gach isn't known for his patience folks, and that _was _a legal hit," the announcer quickly called out while Robin was still recovering from the shock of the unexpected blow that Virion had taken. A quick glance towards the East-Khan's box showed that Chrom was irate at the cheap hit and that Sumia had yet to react other than covering her mouth in surprise. Meanwhile, Lissa had immediately left her spot on the sidelines with Ricken close behind. Robin half expected the cleric to start telling off the western Feroxi, but instead she just crowded the axeman out of the way and held her staff over Virion. After a second of concentration she must have determined that there wasn't any danger in moving him as she slowly helped him off the field with Ricken's help.

"Looks like ol' Teach needs to give someone some learning on manners!" Vaike announced himself as he came up from behind Robin. Surprisingly, he didn't immediately walk into the arena and instead paused next to her, waiting for approval.

The tactician considered it for a second, then nodded, "Go teach him a lesson Vaike." She was mildly annoyed that he had left the tunnel without her say, though it ultimately didn't matter since he was the right call. In Robin's original plans, Miriel would have been the next Shepherd into the arena so that she could fight the armored knight on the other side, but those plans were scrapped since Virion had pulled double duty. It still made sense to hold Frederick back and Robin certainly wasn't going to send Miriel out against an axeman by herself.

"It looks like class is in session! Next up for the Shepherds is Vaike, who's also known as Teach. Let's see how these two axe specialists fair against each other!" While the announcer spoke, Vaike confidently walked towards his opponent while Gach started to do the same. When they had both neared the center of the arena, the Feroxi man threw another hatchet but Vaike quickly moved his axe in the way so that the projectile bounced off and fell with a clatter near the Shepherd's feet. Vaike didn't get a chance to reset his stance because he had to use his axe to block a blow a swing from the other axeman immediately after. Gach had broken out into a sprint after tossing the second hatchet so the two entered a brutal combat of powerful swings and dodges.

As they fought, Robin realized that she hadn't watched Vaike all that much in an actual combat scenario and their training schedules hadn't matched up. She had mostly picked him for the fight based on his fighting style and was impressed by what she saw. Even though she still found his lack of armor ridiculous, Robin had to admit that what he had said about it not slowing him down had been true. The two combatants seemed to be evenly matched as they were a whirl of steel that didn't involve any blocks. Their axes hadn't met since the initial exchange as both of them were throwing themselves out of the way of their opponents' swings, which quickly led to a situation that they were both covered in nicks.

The crowd seemed equally mesmerized by the performance and Robin mused that this was the first even match that they had seen today. All of the previous ones had been heavily influenced by the champions' fighting style, which didn't necessarily make for the most interesting spectating. Even though it looked much more impressive, this fight wasn't terribly different in the sense that with their mirrored styles, the first one to make a mistake would lose.

Thankfully, it was Gach that made the mishap when his foot slid slightly on the arena's tile when he tried to dodge a swing from Vaike. The Feroxi man stumbled and Vaike immediately took advantage by following up the attack that Gach had dodged with a lateral swing that caught him in the side and sent him sprawling. Vaike stepped over the man and held his axe over him in an exact mirror of how Gach had held his over Virion minutes ago. The Feroxi axeman growled in frustration, then released his grip on his axe to the cheers of the crowd.

"You better study up for next time Gach, because you just got flunked!" The announcer called over the cheers of the crowd. There was some quick discussion on the western side of the arena that ended with the second western mage stepping into the arena to Robin's surprise. It didn't make sense to her for them to send their Thunder mage out against Vaike when their archer was still available. Her thoughts were interrupted as the announcer introduced the odd deployment, "The west's next champion is Tardan, who was once struck by lightning and walked away unscathed!" Murmurings from the crowd made it clear that they were very impressed with that statement while Robin snorted derisively. That 'feat' said significantly more about the man's robes than it did his skills as a mage.

Vaike ran towards the western side of the arena as soon as the mage stepped into its bounds and dodged the first Thunder that flew his way. While Tardan was preparing to cast his second, Vaike threw something at the mage and the unexpected projectile caught the man in the shoulder, causing the spell to fly upwards as his aim was spoiled. Robin's quick glance at the center of the arena confirmed that the hatchet that Gach had thrown at Vaike was missing, so Vaike must have picked it up when everyone else was distracted by the champion change.

Though she was pleased with his quick thinking, Robin wished that Vaike had held onto the weapon for one more cast when the mage's third Thunder finally hit Vaike. The shock forced him to pause his charge and he was immediately hit by a second spell now that he was a stationary target. The axeman managed to take one step forward, then collapsed only a few steps away from his opponent. The western half of the crowd cheered as Lissa and Ricken ran onto the arena's floor for the second time in a row as they helped bring Vaike back to rest on the sidelines with the rest of the Shepherds. While the Feroxi that had been treated by Lissa had already left the arena's floor, all of the Shepherds had stayed on the sidelines to watch the remaining fights after they had been checked by the cleric.

While the announcer made a comment about Vaike being 'schooled,' Robin considered who should be the next to fight. Vaike's hatchet throw must have hurt the Tardan fairly badly, so she was fairly confident that all three of the remaining Shepherds could handle him. That meant that she should prioritize picking someone that would do well against either of the remaining western champions. Turning back towards the tunnel, she called, "Your turn Frederick!" Her order was immediately answered by the sound of hooves hitting tile and within a second Frederick charged past her at a full gallop.

"The Shepherds' secret weapon finally hits the field! Frederick is the personal guard to the prince and princess of Ylisse and he's got more than enough skill for the job!" Across the arena Robin could see that Tardan had paled at the sudden charge that he was faced with. The mage quickly cast a Thunder, but Frederick was still far enough away that the knight was able to angle his charge to avoid the ball of lightning.

The second Thunder did hit Frederick and caused both horse and rider to shudder as the electricity arced over them. Frederick uncharacteristically lost his grip on his shield at the shock and it clattered to the ground as he continued to charge towards the mage. His grip on his lance had loosened as well, but he was able to quickly bring its point back up as he shrugged off the spell. Without enough time to cast another Thunder before Frederick reached him, Tardan took a step backwards and removed himself from the bounds of the arena.

Even though there were pockets of boos and jeers from the crowd, Robin couldn't fault the mage's decision to disqualify himself. The odds that Tardan would have been able to dodge Frederick's lance were fairly low and without something to parry the blow, it wouldn't have been a risk that she would have wanted to take either. Even though the lance was blunted, it would have likely broken at least one bone considering how fast Frederick had been going.

"An unfortunate turn of events for the west! Let's see if Azen can replicate Virion's success at defeating an armored opponent!" Robin could hear members of the crowd make various sounds of confusion, which was a sentiment she wholeheartedly shared. Noting the crowd's bewilderment, the announcer explained. "For those of you new to the Clash, the last combatant for each team must be their captain, so Azen must fight before Marth!" Robin was suddenly glad that she hadn't gone out to fight Tardan as she had considered earlier; she had somehow missed that rule even with her research.

Frederick had returned to the center of the arena and was waiting patiently for his opponent to enter its bounds, which was something that the archer was clearly loath to do so. After a few more moments of hesitation he stepped into the arena and simultaneously fired an arrow. Without his shield, Frederick was unable to react to the arrow and it hit him on his left shoulder, leaving a small dent and the knight immediately spurred Jagen forward.

Before Frederick could reach him, Azen desperately fired another arrow though this one was angled downwards so it hit Jagen. While the large horse's armor was able to stop the projectile it still caused the horse to whinny loudly at the hit. When his second arrow also failed to slow his opponent's advance, the archer quickly dodged to his right but was caught in the side by Fredericks lance as the knight swept it to the side. Since Azen hadn't taken any steps farther into the arena after his first, the force of the blow was all that was needed to knock him out of bounds.

"A poor showing from the western archer!" The announcer called as Frederick rode back to the center of the arena and Azen slowly pulled himself to his feet on the sidelines. "Can Marth repeat his predecessor's feat? Can he defeat all three of the remaining Shepherds?!" If Marth was phased by the announcer's hype, the mysterious swordsman gave no indication of it as he calmly drew his sword. Without hesitation, he walked into the bounds of the arena and once again Frederick immediately started to charge at his new opponent.

Unlike his teammates, Marth immediately broke into a sprint and the crowd started cheering in anticipation. Oddly, Marth didn't make any aggressive move towards Frederick when they met and he instead quickly dodged past the knight and continued running. Before Frederick could swing back around towards the swordsman, Marth reached his target and scooped up the shield had been dropped earlier. Now armed with protection, the swordsman turned back to face Frederick and stoically waited as the knight charged.

When Frederick arrived, he stabbed at Marth with his lance but the masked man once again pivoted at the last second. Instead of fully dodging the attack, Marth brought his newly acquired shield up so that was in the way of Frederick's lance while simultaneously swinging his sword. Secure in his armor, Frederick didn't even try to stop the swing and so he was caught off guard when Marth's sword connected with his lance. Caught between Marth's sword and shield, the lance twisted at an odd angle and was ripped from Frederick's hands.

The west Feroxi crowd exploded in cheers as the seemingly unstoppable knight was disarmed, but Robin was simply stunned. She had known that Marth was strong, but disarming Frederick was an incredibly impressive feat. Robin had never seen him drop his weapon before and suspected that he had kept an even tighter grip than normal after losing his shield which might have been his undoing. Meanwhile, Frederick slowly inclined his head at Marth and began making his way towards the Shepherds on the sidelines.

"It would appear that it is my turn to enter the arena," Miriel calmly announced as she stepped next to Robin.

The tactician nodded slowly, "Yeah, I guess I have to be the last one to fight." As the women watched, Marth discarded his shield and made his way to the center of the arena. "I'm sorry that you have to go against… that."

"It is of no matter. I shall endeavor to inflict a suitable amount of damage so as to lessen your own challenge."

Robin wanly smiled, neither of them had any illusions that Miriel would be able to defeat Marth. She doubted that Marth would let himself be hit by more than a single Fire spell and knew that wouldn't be enough to take the man out of the fight.

"The next Shepherd to enter the arena is Miriel! This analytical mage tries to understand how everything works, and that includes her opponents!" Robin rolled her eyes at the announcer's comment; apparently not all of the material that Virion had provided him had been particularly good. Unfazed by her introduction, Miriel stepped into the arena and calmly waited as Marth approached. There was no reason to waste energy casting spells that could obviously be dodged.

Once Marth had reached about forty feet from Miriel, she finally fired a Fire spell at the masked man. Marth looked completely unconcerned at the approaching fireball and almost lazily brought his sword into the spell's path. Robin watched in bewilderment as the fireball exploded when it made contact with the sword and some of the flames flew back and hit the swordsman. Even Marth seemed surprised by what had occurred and he faltered for split-second before resuming his march on Miriel.

As soon as Miriel launched her second Fire spell, Marth broke into a sprint and narrowly dodged the projectile. The third Fire clipped Marth in the left shoulder and he staggered slightly at the explosion but was able to maintain his footing. Miriel didn't get a chance to cast a fourth spell because of the sword that was inches away from her chest.

"Surrender." Marth commanded in a low voice and without hesitating Miriel took a step backwards out of bounds. Marth nodded solemnly before returning to the center of the arena to await his last opponent.

"It all comes down to this, folks! Can Robin, master of both sword and tome, defeat the peerless swordsman Marth?! The western champion took a couple of hits in that last fight, but will it be enough to make a difference?!"

Robin hated to admit it, but she suspected that the announcer was right and she would need the handicap that Miriel had won for her. She had little doubt that Marth would win every time in an even fight, but the injuries that he had taken might just be enough to tip the scales in her favor.

The tactician took a deep breath to center herself before stepping into the arena's bounds while raising her tome in her left hand. The Shepherds had done well despite their numbers disadvantage, but now everything came down to her. If she won then Ylisse would have its alliance with Regna Ferox. If she lost then she would have to hope that the Shepherd's performance and Lissa's healing services would be enough to convince the West-Khan to accept the alliance anyway.

While Robin had been thinking about the ramifications of the fight, Marth had begun to slowly walk towards her with the blunted sword that had just defeated Miriel raised in a guard stance. Considering the relative lack of luck Miriel had just had with hitting with the more accurate Fire spell, Robin resigning herself to a melee fight and walked forward to meet Marth in the arena. Unlike previous bouts, there was no flurry of movement when the two opponents reached each other and instead they stood still to regard the other. Even though they hadn't made any moves yet, the crowd exploded in cheers in anticipation of the final bout.

"Thank you for your help against the Risen," Robin offered while planning her attack. From watching Marth's fights with Frederick and Miriel, the masked man was clearly agile which gave him a leg over Robin. The comfortable weight of the tome in her left hand would have to be her way to victory. It wouldn't have been useful at a range, but perhaps she would be able to catch Marth off guard with a Thunder during a melee engagement.

Marth appeared to have been sizing her up at the same time and he slowly nodded in response to her thanks. "Why isn't the prince participating?" He asked while experimentally swinging his sword at Robin. Though Marth's calm expression never wavered, there was an odd tone in his voice.

The tactician blocked the strike as she answered and transitioned into a lateral swipe that made Marth jump backwards to avoid. "There was a misunderstanding at the border and he was injured." The masked man stumbled slightly as he was forced backwards and Robin surged forward to land a glancing blow on his side.

The two traded blows for several seconds in silence, aside from the occasional grunt, before Marth spoke again. "Is he alright now?" Unlike before, there was a clear urgency to his voice.

Robin shamefully realized that she wasn't entirely sure how Chrom was doing. With the preparations for the arena battle, she hadn't talked to him since their meeting with Flavia yesterday. It had seemed that he was doing fine then, but she had been just as worried as the rest of the Shepherds when it had taken him the entire journey from the border to Arena Ferox to awaken. Realizing that Marth was still waiting for an answer, Robin hastily replied as she blocked another quick swing from the swordsman, "Lissa and Sumia say he's fine."

Marth hesitated again at the answer and Robin took the opportunity to stab out at the masked man. This time he dodged out of the way without taking a hit and retaliated with a flurry of blows that Robin desperately tried to parry. A couple glancing hits had landed, but her cloak padded the already dulled blade. Thankfully, Marth hadn't managed to make any cuts in the fabric so Robin didn't need to worry about facing a burst of exhaustion in the middle of the fight. Emboldened by the fact that she was actually getting some protection out of her cloak in a battle for once, she stepped forward and managed to land another blow on Marth's left side before he danced backwards once again.

The two paused to regard each other again while Robin struggled to figure out what was so familiar about the fight. While it could have been some lost memory, Robin suspected that it was a recent one and that Anders would have been able to instantly tell her what she was thinking of. Marth stepped forward with another downward strike and Robin's eyes caught the swordsman's blue hair as she moved to block. The reminder instantly made her realize that Marth's fighting style was eerily similar to the one that Chrom had used when they had practiced. Marth's swings were slightly faster and less powerful, but relied on the same repeated assault stratagem that Chrom used.

The two stared at each other across their crossed blades and spoke at the same time. "Who _are_ you?"

Robin furrowed her brow, unsure why Marth would have asked her the same question. Deciding that neither of them were likely to get the answers that they wanted right now, Robin returned her attention to the fight and disengaged her sword from Marth's and took a step backward before he could renew his assault. Then she dropped her sword.

Robin could tell that the announcer said something, but it was lost over the sounds of the western Feroxi crowd, who had already started celebrating their victory. Ignoring them, Robin raised her right hand and calmed announced, "Thunder." The small bolt of electricity shot forward and hit Marth right in the chest before he could react and the swordsman staggered backwards. The crowd fell into a stunned silence as Robin took a step after him and cast another Thunder. The second spell hit Marth's sword and the shock of the spell made him drop it.

The crowd was silent for a second, then erupted into cheers. They must have boosted the spell increasing the announcer's voice, because this time Robin could clearly hear his voice booming over the crowd. "Marth has been defeated! The Shepherds and East-Khan Flavia are the winners of the Clash!"

"You alright?" Robin asked Marth concerndly. Even with the mystery surrounding him, he seemed like a good person and she wanted to make sure since he hadn't moved after being hit by the second Thunder.

The swordsman experimentally closed and opened his right hand before he eventually kept it curled into a fist. "I'm fine," he replied neutrally and turned around to face the western side of the arena.

"Are you sure?" Robin called over the crowd, "We could have Lissa take a look." Keeping his back to her, Marth shook his head and walked out of the arena without stopping to retrieve his sword. Robin didn't get a chance to protest any further before she was suddenly pulled into a large hug from Lissa with the rest of the Shepherds close behind. Sully and Stahl must have been sitting in one of the lower rows of the stands because they had joined most everyone else in the celebration of their victory. Chrom and Sumia weren't as lucky and were still stuck in Flavia's viewing box, but Robin could see them cheering just as loud as everyone else.

The sudden realization that they had won flooded her with relief and Robin sagged slightly in Lissa's embrace as her exhaustion finally caught up. All she could think as the Shepherds basked in their victory was that she really wanted to rest.

* * *

Anders stared glumly into the mug of mead in front of him that had been left untouched for several minutes. He had tried a couple sips and had quickly decided that it was not for him, so now the mostly full mug seemed to be taunting him. It would have been so nice to drink several of the beverages and get as inebriated as many of the Feroxi and even some Shepherds were becoming at the party. He wasn't even able to distract himself by talking to any of the other Shepherds since the ones at his table weren't disposed to conversation at the moment. Miriel had taken a single curious sip of mead before retreating to Anders' table to intently observe the other partygoers. The other person who had joined him was Ricken, but the young mage was sulking after Frederick had cut him off after a single mug. Many of the other Shepherds were either dancing or participating in a drinking competition, and Anders was decidedly not in the mood for the former.

Returning to his own thoughts, Anders grunted in frustration as he replayed the events that had taken place since he had woken up on that hill. There had already been five different occasions where the Shepherds had been in danger since he had met them and despite being one of their members, he hadn't fought with them a single time. He certainly didn't begrudge Robin's usefulness and would readily agree that in all five situations it had made more sense for Robin to be swapped in instead of him, but that didn't make it sting any less. The most frustrating part was that he couldn't even imagine a situation where it would be more beneficial for him to participate in a fight instead of Robin. Even if he became a master at the bow and sword, it didn't seem like he would ever match the utility that was granted by Robin's magic and her tactical mind.

"What are you guys doing just sitting there? This is a party!" Anders looked up from his mug to see Lissa beaming down at him, though he thought that he could see concern on her face.

"Turns out it's not really my sort of thing," Anders replied with a shrug. "What about you? Happy that you finally got that party you wanted? Does it count even if Flavia is throwing it instead of Frederick?"

"Yeah, it's been great!" The cleric replied with a large grin, "Have you tried the food yet?"

The amnesiac nodded, even though he hadn't enjoyed the beverages, the food had been quite excellent. "Yep, it was pretty good. I had a roast… something. I'm not actually sure what kind of meat it was, but it was delicious. A lot better than bear, that's for sure."

Lissa pretended to gag at the reminder of the first meal that they had shared before quickly turning serious. "You sure you're doing okay though?" She asked, "You looked a little down there."

Anders had to stop himself from ruefully smiling at the cleric's concern. He'd been worried about how she was doing but it turned out that she was better off than he was. Or at least she was better than him at hiding it. "I'm fine," he said, then added when he saw the doubt in her eyes. "Really. Anyway, what did you guys think of the arena fight?" Anders turned as he asked the question to include Ricken in the conversation, hoping that Lissa wouldn't keep pressuring him.

The question about the bouts was enough to get Ricken's attention and the young mage immediately perked back up. "It was awesome! Some of them were kind of odd, but everyone was really impressive!"

When Anders gave the cleric a questioning look, she shrugged. "It was fine. Everyone was just hitting each other with practice weapons so it wasn't that different than normal training." She grimaced, "Not that people normally get hit in the back during training."

Anders mirrored her expression at the reminder of the surprise hit that his archery instructor had taken, "How's Virion doing? I didn't get a chance to talk to him yet."

"His back will be sore for a couple days, but he's fine otherwise."

"That's not too bad then," Anders said and they entered a somewhat awkward silence as the conversation died.

He was just about to tell Lissa to go back to enjoying the party when Ricken spoke up, "What were Robin and Marth talking about during their fight?"

"Oh yeah!" Lissa added, "We could see them talking but couldn't hear anything."

Anders quickly checked Robin's memories to refresh his recollection of that part of the arena fight. "First Robin thanked Marth for helping us against the Risen that first night…" He trailed off and frowned thoughtfully. "Huh, I just realized that Marth seemed to immediately understand what Robin was talking about when she said 'Risen.'"

"I don't think that's _that_ weird." Lissa said and continued with a shudder, "The name is sorta on the nose, don't you think?"

"Besides," Miriel interjected. The other mage had halted her observations of the Feroxi party at some point to listen to their conversation. "Your own recollections of your first encounter with the Risen greatly implied that this Marth was exceedingly familiar with the creatures."

"Right, but that doesn't explain how he would know a name that the Ylissean council gave them afterwards." When Miriel didn't have an answer for that, he shrugged and decided that Lissa must be right. "At any rate, after that Marth asked why Chrom wasn't participating, so Robin said there was a misunderstanding at the border and he was hurt." Anders carefully watched Lissa's expression as he spoke. Even if he hadn't already intended to verify that she was alright, her concern for him made him doubly want to make sure.

Lissa didn't react apart from a slight grimace which Anders decided to take as a good sign. Before he could continue recounting the fight, he was interrupted by a loud voice. "There's _one _of the people I was looking for! I wanted to thank you for taking care of my men, princess." Anders looked over to the source of the voice and saw a large man that looked every bit the stereotypical northern barbarian, completing the look with an eyepatch. Standing on his right side was a stoic looking man wearing warm-looking clothing with a sword at his side. Behind him on the left was a young woman with long pink hair who was wearing white clothing that didn't look nearly warm enough for the climate of Regna Ferox.

_Basilio. Lon'qu. Olivia._

The sound of the voice forced away any remaining dourness that Anders felt and he suddenly sat up to pay close attention to the newcomers. The voice had returned to its normal quiet tone, which was a welcome reversion after it had practically screamed at him back at the border. At any rate, he was excited to hear it again since it had been almost two weeks since it had named someone.

Meanwhile, Lissa had given Anders an odd look at his sudden movement before turning a smile towards the three. "No problem! You're the West-Khan right? I could see your box during the arena."

The man nodded and made an exaggerated grimace, "I guess I'll have to get used to being called West-Khan Basilio instead of Khan Regnant Basilio. To tell the truth, if you lot had come to me first, I probably would have given you the alliance and I'd _still _be in power!"

"Oh," Lissa answered hesitantly. "Sorry?"

Basilio laughed heartily at that, "No hard feelings lass. It just means I'll have to work that much harder in three years to get my title back!"

"You think Marth will still be part of your team then?" Anders asked in the hopes that the Khan would know more about the masked man than the Shepherds.

"Bah! That Marth is just some sellsword with delusions of grandeur," Basilio said dismissively and pointed at the swordsman behind him with his thumb. "All I know is that he turned up one eve and knocked my old champion flat. It was love at first sight, and I'm generally too old for such things! Anyway, he's gone now. Up and fled the moment the tournament ended."

Anders was surprised to hear that Marth had already left; he would have bet that Marth was going to stick around after the exchange during the last bout. "He left already? I think Robin had some questions for him."

Basilio shrugged, "Not sure what to tell you there. He left as suddenly as he showed up. Robin though, that's who your captain was in the fight, right? I wanted to talk to her and the prince as well."

Anders frowned slightly, it certainly wasn't unexpected that Basilio wanted to talk to Chrom, but Robin was a surprise. "What did you want to talk to them about?"

"We've got a small situation here in Ferox that I wanted to pick your tactician's brain about. As for the prince, I need to discuss our new partnership and give him my little present for you Shepherds."

"Present?" Lissa asked eagerly.

Basilio laughed heartily at the cleric's reaction before he once again jabbed his thumb towards the swordsman behind him. "I'm having Lon'qu here join your little group if the prince allows it. Consider him an early contribution from West Ferox to the Ylissean cause."

Anders mind raced as the beginnings of a pattern started to emerge. Before today the voice had only named members of the Shepherds plus Sumia's friend Cordelia. Now it was naming three people unaffiliated with the Ylissean militia immediately before one of them joined the group. It didn't make sense, but it almost seemed as if it was naming people who were Shepherds or would join the group. The idea of a foreign leader joining the Shepherds was unusual, but it was definitely possible that the man's second retainer or Sumia's close friend would join.

"I haven't seen Chrom lately," Lissa answered thoughtfully. "But Robin is-"

"Resting!" Anders interjected, "I'll go get her." He wanted to immediately check with Robin to get her thoughts on his new idea. He was also more than happy to have an excuse to leave the party.

"I'd appreciate that," Basilio said with a slight nod. "How about we track down your brother then princess?"

Lissa gave Anders a confused glance before returning to smiling at Basilio, "Sure! I bet he's over by the food."

As Anders stood up from the table he realized that Ricken and Miriel had still been sitting there the entire time without making any contributions to their conversations with Basilio. From their expressions, Ricken had been cowed by being in the presence of the Khan while Miriel had simply returned to paying attention to the partygoers. As Anders left the room that the party was being held, the last thing that he heard was Lon'qu loudly claim that Lissa was too close to him.

* * *

**A/N: Not much to say about this one other than I hope you didn't mind the changed up format of the arena fight. I worked through a few different variantions and this is the one that I ended up liking the most. As always, thanks to everyone that's followed or favorited and to Robert for betaing. ****Next up is Chapter 10: Foibles in Ferox.**


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